,^5»;»STof7w#^ 


OQ 


8  1925 


^smi  $t«v^ 


BV  3790  .L29  1921 
Leete,  Frederick  DeLand, 

1866- 
Every-day  evangelism, 

Dersonal.  tr^n^^^^- 


OCT  28  1925 


EVERY-DA 
EVANGELISM 


Personal 
Trained 
Co-operative 


Frederick  DeLand  Leete,  D.  D., 

Pastor  Central  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 


Detboit,  Michigan 


THE  METHODIST  BOOK  CONCERN 
NEW  YORK  CINCINNATI 


Copyright,  1909,  by 
JENNINGS  &  GRAHAM 


First  Edition  Printed  March,  1909 

Reprinted  July,  September,  and  December,  1909;  April,  1911; 

September,  1912;  September,  1916;  July,   1921 


CONTENTS 


Page 

Introduction,      -        -           Bishop  J,  K  Berry  5 

Foreword, 11 

I.  Christianity's  Greatest  Problem,      -  17 

II.  Evangelistic  Efforts,     -         -        -        -  29 

III.  Continuous  Evangelism,     -         -        -  43 

IV.  Organization  for  Personal  Work,         -  56 
V.  Pastoral  Leadership,          -        -        -  72 

VI.  Instruction  of  Workers,        -        -        -  89 

VII.  Procuring  Material,          -         -         -  103 

VIII.  Following  up  Results,   -         -        -         -  115 

IX.  Reflex  Influences,     -         -         -         -  132 

X.  Topics  and  Outlines,      -        -        -        -  145 

XI.  Illustrative  Incidents,      -         -        -  159 

XII.  The  King's  Business,      -         -        -         -  189 

Books  Which  May  Prove  Helpful,      -        -  206 


INTRODUCTION 


The  number  of  books  dealing  with  the  different 
phases  of  evangelistic  work  is  already  large.  New 
ones  are  constantly  coming  from  the  press.  But 
three  out  of  four  of  these  are  theoretical  rather 
than  practical.  The  little  book  which  I  now  have 
the  pleasure  of  introducing  to  the  Christian  public 
belongs  to  the  latter  class.  While  it  is  not  osten- 
sibly a  manual  of  revival  methods,  it  will,  never- 
theless, serve  that  useful  purpose.  In  many  years 
of  editorial  experience  I  never  examined  a  manu- 
script dealing  with  this  vital  matter  which  struck 
me  as  more  suggestive. 

The  book  in  your  hands  puts  emphasis  upon 
pastoral  evangelism.  That  is  well.  The  recogni- 
tion by  the  minister  of  his  mission  as  an  evangelist 
and  the  renewal  of  confidence  in  his  ability  to  lead 
sinners  to  Jesus  Christ  is  one  of  the  most  urgent 
needs  of  the  hour. 

'  I  have  no  criticism  of  the  confederation  of  min- 
isters and  Churches  in  gigantic  meetings  for  mutual 
inspiration,    convocations    where    Christians    come 

5 


6  Introduction 

together  in  a  great  tabernacle  or  hall  and  for  a 
time  listen  to  some  far-famed  evangelist  and  the 
solos  of  his  equally  famous  singer.  Such  meetings 
often  prove  to  be  a  great  sdiool  of  Christian  cul- 
ture, and  do  much  good,  feut  the  real  work  of 
seeking  and  saving  the  lost  in  any  community  must 
be  done  by  individual  Churches.  Indeed,  it  must 
be  done  by  individual  Christians.  ]  And  in  this  work 
the  pastor  is  the  logical  leader.  Any  influences 
which  break  down  his  leadership  are  to  be  deplored. 
Every  normal  minister  of  Jesus  Christ  is  an 
evangelist.  If  he  is  not  _a,n  evangelist,  he  is  not 
a  normal  minister.  He  may  not  have  the  resource- 
fulness which  will  enable  him  to  organize  forces 
and  manipulate  great  congregations.  But  he  will 
lead  sinners  to  the  Savior  of  the  world.  What  a 
field  of  opportunity  the  pastor  has!  The  com- 
munity with  its  many  personal  friendships,  the 
congregation  with  its  unsaved  members,  the  young 
people's  society  with  its  buoyant,  inspiring  young 
members,  many  of  whom  are  unconverted,  the 
Sunday-school  with  its  hundreds  of  boys  and  girls 
at  an  age  when  the  heart  is  most  susceptible  to 
spiritual  appeal — the  pastor  is  the  center  of  all  this 
life,  and  if  he  will,  he  may  win  it  for  his  Lord. 
[l  meet  pastors  who  have  lost  faith  in  their  ability 
to  evangelize.     They  would  like  to  have  revivals, 


Introduction  7 

but  the  secret  seems  to  have  been  lost.  So  with 
sad  hearts  they  turn  to  others  to  lead  their  unsaved 
people  to  decision  and  salvation.  What  a  pity !  j 
By  every  reason  which  the  logic  of  the  situation 
suggests,  the  pastor  himself  should  have  the  joy 
of  winning  these  souls.  When  80,000  evangelical 
ministers  recognize  the  truth  that  they  are  the 
80,000  evangelistic  leaders  of  the  Church,  we  will 
have  such  an  ingathering  as  has  not  been  seen  for 
generations!  And  will  not  that  ingathering  be 
largely  of  the  continuous  sort? 

/  It  is  also  true  that  every  real  Christian  in  the 
ranks  of  the  laity  is  an  evangelist.  He  must  be 
or  he  is  not  a  Christian.  The  philosophy  of  the 
world's  evangelization  is  individualism,  both  in 
praying  and  in  working.  One  saved  soul  going 
after  an  unsaved  soul  with  yearning  heart  and 
eager  step  and  tender  entreaty — this  is  the  Chris- 
tian's unspeakable  privilege.  And  it  is  a  dutyj 
It  is  a  duty  which  can  not  be  escaped.  It  is  a 
duty  which  no  one  will  seek  to  escape  whose  heart 
has  been  quickened  and  illumined  by  the  Holy 
Spirit.  So  many  of  our  Christians  are  such  only 
in  name.  They  are  indifferent  to  spiritual  things. 
The  passion  of  the  Christian  propaganda  is  not 
upon  them.  They  need  to  be  brought  under  con- 
viction, aroused  from  their  lethargy,  renewed  by 


8  Introduction 

the  Holy  Spirit  and  endued  with  power  for  per- 
sonal service.  If  even  one  quarter  of  our  vast 
membership  could  be  enlisted  in  the  work  of  indi- 
vidual evangelism,  what  a  spiritual  revolution  there 
would  be! 

Because  of  the  convictions  expressed  in  the  two 
preceding  paragraphs,  I  am  glad  my  friend  has 
written  his  book.  It  will  prove  a  most  valuable 
contribution  to  the  literature  which  heralds  the 
dawning  of  the  new  era  of  pastoral,  personal, 
every-day  evangelism.  Dr.  Leete  is  himself  the 
embodiment  of  much  that  he  has  written.  He  does 
not  deal  in  theories.  The  plans  he  commends  to 
other  pastors  he  has  used  himself.  That  these 
methods  will  stand  the  test  of  actual  use  is  shown 
by  their  extraordinary  success  in  his  own  Church. 
For  several  years  the  Central  Church  of  Detroit 
has  been  in  a  continuous  revival,  and  Dr.  Leete 
has  become  one  of  the  most  successful  pastoral 
evangelists  of  our  day.  He  consented  to  write  the 
pages  which  follow  only  after  I  had  earnestly 
urged  him  to  do  so,  and  I  trust  his  burning  words 
may  be  made  a  blessing  to  thousands  upon  thou- 
sands of  those  who,  both  in  pulpit  and  in  pew,  are 
called  of  God  to  do  effective  and  fruitful  evan- 
gelistic service. 

Buffalo,  N,  Y.  Joseph  F.  Berey. 


Otov  yap  €(Tfji€v  (TwepyoC, 


FOREWORD 


The  greatest  human  undertaking  Is  the  effort 
to  increase  the  number  of  those  who,  being  saved 
from  the  guilt  and  power  of  sin,  rejoice  in  the  love 
and  service  of  Jesus  Christ. 

To  engage  upon  this  work  the  Church  of  Christ 
is  divinely  called.  It  is  not  something  to  be  chosen 
if  one  pleases ;  it  is  a  duty  to  be  discharged  in  the 
spirit  of  loving  obedience,  and  whose  neglect  is  sin. 

In  "The  Man  of  the  Hour,"  a  Socialist  St. 
Francis  expresses  this  burning  truth:  "The  re- 
demption of  humanity  is  not  an  alms,  it  is  a 
religion."  Attached  to  this  service  has  been  a 
sense  of  merit  hke  that  of  the  Martyrs  and  Confes- 
sors, which  is  altogether  out  of  place.  To  seek 
access  to  the  hearts  of  men,  bringing  to  them  the 
gospel;  to  lead  those  who  do  not  know  Him  into 
the  light  of  Christ's  presence  and  love,  is  the 
natural  expression  of  true  faith,  as  well  as  the 
strong  impulse  of  the  spirit  which  is  conscious  of 
God's  grace,  and  which  realizes  and  responds  to 
the  deepest  needs  of  men. 

/There   is   a   growing   conviction   that   definite 
11 


12  Foreword 

individual  approach  to  individual  minds  is  the  law 
of  growth,  both  for  Christians  and  for  the  King- 
dom of  Christ.!  To  use  the  term  of  Dr.  W.  B. 
Riley,  this  is  the  "perennial  revival,"  which,  in- 
spired and  instructed  through  the  regular  offices 
of  the  Church  and  supplemented  by  such  special 
meetings  as  are  deemed  wise,  is  to  reach  the  next 
generation  with  the  Christian  evangel. 

[One  of  the  strong  features  of  personal  evan- 
gelism is  that  it  is  largely  free  from  the  charge  of 
"crude  emotionalism,"  and  wholly  so  from  "crowd 
coercion," j  perhaps  too  radically  opposed  by  Pro- 
fessor Davenport  and  others.  B^it  let  it  not  be 
thought  that  it  is  an  indifferent  matter,  or  one  to 
be  done  dispassionately,  to  teach  Christ,  and  to 
lead  those  who  have  not  known  it  into  a  vital  Chris- 
tian experience.  On  the  part  of  those  who  forget 
that  men  have  affections  as  well  as  brains,  emotional 
as  well  as  mental  faculties  and  processes,  it  is  not 
unfashionable  to  speak  lightly  of  zeal  with  refer- 
ence to  evangelism  and  Christian  service.  It  is 
sometimes  regarded  as  giving  proof  of  superior 
wisdom  to  patronize  or  even  to  disparage  this  ear- 
nestness. Rather  is  not  this  evidence  of  degeneracy  ? 

In  all  great  movements  there  are  three  periods, 
and  Christianity  has  more  than  once  passed  through 
them  all.     There  is  the  time  of  power  and  achieve- 


Foreword  13 

ment.  Minds  are  active,  hands  are  strong,  hearts 
are  warm ;  therefore  does  the  cause  prosper.  Then 
comes  the  cooling  process.  The  world  encroaches; 
on  the  part  of  many,  stereotyped  phrases  replace 
sturdy  faith,  and  trite  methods  are  made  ridiculous 
by  constantly  weaker  reproductions  and  imitations. 
The  third  period  is  that  of  the  critics,  who  preach 
not  the  gospel,  but  about  the  gospel,  who  save  no 
souls  themselves,  but  discuss  those  who,  striving 
against  adverse  tendencies  and  the  deadness  both 
within  and  without  the  Church  seek  to  do  this; 
dissecting  their  message,  their  modus  operandi,  and 
even  their  motives,  not  hesitating  to  alienate  their 
public,  some  at  least  of  whom  they  would  otherwise 
keep  from  wrecked  lives  and  Christless  graves. 
This  is  small  business  and  it  would  be  left  to  the 
small  minded,  were  it  not  that  some  men  of  good 
intellect  have  little  hearts.  Thus  in  many  places 
during  recent  years  we  have  the  unpleasant  spec- 
tacle of  faithful  Churches  and  pastors  seeking  to 
bring  the  masses  of  unsaved  people  about  them 
into  Christian  experience,  and  to  develop  the  faith 
and  activities  of  Church  memberships,  while  others 
wittily  or  even  coarsely  depreciate  their  efforts,  or 
satisfy  themselves  that  they  are  doing  the  work 
of  God  in  proselyting  the  more  prosperous  and 
worldly  members  of  sister  Churches. 


14  Foreword 

The  remedy  for  all  this  is  a  new  spiritual  move- 
ment, a  gracious  reinspiration  of  the  Church,  such 
as  God  effected  through  the  Wesleys  and  their 
helpers.  How  shall  it  be  realized?  In  answer  to 
prayer,  and  by  the  introduction  of  many  Christian 
people  into  such  a  love  of  Christ  and  desire  for 
the  coming  of  His  kingdom  as  results  only  from 
the  effort  to  bring  others  into  a  new  life,  or  to 
lead  them  to  dedicate  themselves  to  the  offices  of 
Christian  usefulness. 

There  are  signs  that  the  materialism  and  con- 
sequent decay  of  conscience,  too  painfully  evident 
in  recent  years,  are  being  conquered  by  a  better 
spirit,  and  one  which  gives  more  hope  to  those 
who  desire  the  world's  salvation.  /When  gold  is 
king,  or  pleasure,  or  success,  there  is  small  chance 
for  ideals.  Now  that  there  is  a  loud  cry  of  pro- 
test against  commercial  and  political  dishonesty, 
and  an  insistent  demand  for  obedience  to  a  higher 
law  than  that  of  expediency  and  gain,  there  is 
hope  of  the  cultivation  of  the  spirit  which  seeks 
to  lay  up  treasure  above.  As  the  civic  movement 
begotten  of  an  ineradicable  Christian  consciousness, 
aided  by  a  new  generation  of  literary  men  whose 
thought  is  upon  ethical  standards,  struggles  for 
improved  conditions  in  public  affairs,  there  will  be 
strong   reciprocal    relations   with   the   definite   re- 


Foreword  15 

demptive  work  of  Christianity.  If  conscientious- 
ness deepens,  and  if  the  present  tendency  to  em- 
phasize the  value  of  the  higher  possessions  and 
qualities  of  life  continues,  the  effect  upon  evangel- 
ism and  upon  Christian  service  will  be  marked  and 
most  encouraging.  Certainly  the  whole  Church 
of  Christ  should  increase  its  pressure  in  this  direc- 
tion, for  quickened  moral  sensibility  is  proof  that 
its  mission  to  the  world  is  not  in  vain,  and  the  con- 
fidence is  strengthened  that  in  the  end  its  full  aims 
will  be  realized. 


CHAPTER  I 

CHRISTIANITY'S   GREATEST  PROB- 
LEM 

The  conversion  of  the  world  is  the  supreme 
problem  of  Christianity!  It  is  not  the  defense  of 
truth,  for  in  the  end  truth  may  be  depended  upon 
to  take  care  of  itself,  and  it  can  never  fail.  Nor 
does  the  material  prosperity  of  the  Church  need  to 
be  the  chief  concern.  That  which  has  value  will 
always  bring  a  price ;  moreover,  in  its  poorest  days 
the  Church  has  generally  grown  strong,  not  only 
in  its  inner  life,  but  in  accessions.  The  real  issue 
is  the  salvation  of  mankind,  the  conquest  of  the 
evil  lusts  of  humanity,  and  the  transformation  of 
the  race  into  the  nature  and  graces  of  Christ.  But 
this  is  being  very  slowly  accomplished.  Vast  popu- 
lations are  filling  the  earth  who,  living  and  dying, 
know  not  God.  Throngs  of  men  and  women  crowd 
the  temples  of  vice  in  the  great  cities,  giving  them- 
selves to  self-indulgence  and  folly.  On  every  side 
are  evidences  of  the  ravages  of  intemperance  and 
2  17 


18  Every-Day  Evangelism 

licentiousness.  The  fruits  of  sin  constantly  pro- 
duce sorrow  and  shame.  In  spite  of  education 
and  science,  disease,  poverty  and  pain  still  curse 
lands  which  God  made  fair  and  which  were  intended 
to  be  abodes  of  purity  and  joy.  The  optimist  may 
shut  his  eyes  to  this,  but  whenever  he  opens  them 
he  receives  a  shock.  However  firmly  one  may 
believe  that  the  world  is  bettering,  he  must  confess 
the  tardiness  of  the  process,  and  deplore  the  fact 
that  uncounted  millions  are  unsaved. 

The  solution  of  the  problem  of  evangelization 
will  not  appear  less  difficult  by  considering  a  few 
of  the  serious  hindrances. 

First  should  be  named  the  decay  of  faith  in  the 
great  doctrines  of  the  Bible  which  relate  to  spiritual 
life  and  death ;  the  doctrines  of  sin ;  of  a  necessary 
atonement  as  well  as  pardon  for  violations  of  divine 
law;  of  justification  by  faith  in  Christ's  redeeming 
love,  not  of  personal  merit;  of  the  punishment  of 
wickedness  and  the  reward  of  righteousness ;  of  the 
eternal  profit  of  goodness  and  of  the  everlasting 
destruction  of  all  that  is  unholy.  When  men  are 
taught  such  truths  as  these,  being  brought  to  see 
that  they  are  grounded  in  Scripture  and  in  sound 
judgment,  they  are  likely  to  act  in  the  direction 
of  wisdom  and  peace.  A  milk-and-water  gospel 
never  converts  people  of  strong  souls  and  vigorous 


Christianity's  Greatest  Problem    19 

passions.  It  is  surely  time  for  teachers  of  Chris- 
tianity to  recognize  the  fact  that  soft  sayings  about 
virtue,  the  poetic  portrayals  of  a  sentimental  God 
who  loves  prayer  and  praise  more  than  He  loves 
righteousness,  are  not  likely  to  Christianize  the 
world.  There  must  be  more  iron  in  the  blood  of 
the  Church.  She  must  renew  her  adherence  to  the 
teachings  of  Christ,  applying  them  to  the  facts 
of  the  human  heart  and  conduct.  She  must  do 
this  with  no  uncertainty  of  sound  or  of  soul,  for 
as  John  Stuart  Mill  said,  "One  person  with  a  con- 
viction is  worth  a  hundred  mere  believers."  Only 
as  the  Church  and  ministry  are  clear  and  definite 
in  the  conviction  that  God  has  spoken,  that  He 
means  just  what  He  has  said,  and  that  eternal 
destinies  depend  on  our  attitude  to  Him,  is  it  pos- 
sible so  to  impress  the  selfish  and  worldly  that  they 
will  make  the  surrender  of  their  wills  and  ways 
which  Christianity  requires. 

All  will  admit  that  the  grievous  lack  of  religious 
instruction,  both  in  the  modern  home  and  school, 
renders  the  conversion  of  youth  an  ever  more  diffi- 
cult undertaking.  In  the  deepest  matters  of  life 
parents  are  the  natural  teachers  of  their  children. 
No  one  can  replace  them  or  do  their  work  so  effect- 
ively. Next  to  them  in  opportunity  are  the  edu- 
cators of  the  public  schools,  many  of  whom  would 


20  Every-Day  Evangelism 

gladly  train  their  pupils  in  the  history  if  not  in 
the  ideals  of  Christianity  were  it  not  that  unequal 
laws,  imposing  upon  the  children  of  the  vast  maj  or- 
ity  the  will  of  a  free-thinking  or  sectarian  minority, 
forbid  their  undertaking  this  task.  It  is  hard  to 
see  for  what  sensible  reason  parents  so  largely 
neglect  the  religious  needs  of  their  families,  but  the 
fact  is  too  general  and  too  evident  to  be  questioned. 
A  threefold  burden  is  thus  thrown  upon  the  Church 
— to  do  its  own  work  and  to  discharge  as  well  the 
highest  functions  of  home  and  school.  It  is  an 
unfair  shifting  of  responsibility  and  one  whose  dis- 
charge is  almost  if  not  quite  impossible.  The 
Church  gets  so  small  a  portion  of  the  time  of  young 
people!  It  deals  with  large  numbers,  and  with 
other  large  numbers  it  gets  little  chance  to  work 
at  all,  at  least  to  the  best  advantage.  The  coming 
generation  is  growing  up  ignorant  of  the  Bible, 
unaccustomed  to  the  habits  and  forms  of  worship, 
and  untaught  in  those  ethical  and  spiritual  prin- 
ciples which  mold  character  and  which  shape  con- 
duct unto  righteousness.  A^determined  endeavor 
should  be  made  to  awaken  in  home-makers  a  new 
sense  of  duty.  By  pastoral  and  personal  effort 
families  without  worship  should  be  led  to  establish 
daily  Bible  reading  and  prayer,  for  in  these  exer- 
cises, even  without  more  careful  instruction,  there 


Christianity's  Greatest  Problem   21 

is  in  no  small  degree  a  Christian  education.  Equal 
pains  should  be  taken  with  the  schools.  It  is  to 
be  noted  that  so  far  as  the  many  are  concerned, 
the  day  of  training  in  denominational  schools  is 
passing.  Christianity  must  capture  the  day-school 
and  the  university.  Teachers  must  be  taught  and 
encouraged  to  become  teachers  of  Christ.  If  they 
do  their  work  as  Christians  wisely,  as  a  rule  they 
will  suffer  no  interference.  If  they  should  lose  a 
position  by  reason  of  non-sectarian  religious  teach- 
ing, they  would  quickly  find  another  under  some 
superintendent  better  disposed  towards  the  faith. 
The  day  has  come  for  a  sensible  effort  to  Christian- 
ize educational  institutions,  and  to  use  them  as 
factors  in  world-wide  evangelism,  and  in  a  truer 
and  better  nation-making. 

The  indifferent  and  sometimes  hostile  attitude 
of  the  modern  newspaper  is  one  of  the  great  and 
menacing  obstacles  to  Christianity's  advancement. 
The  change  from  individual  to  corporate  owner- 
ship, which  has  taken  place  within  the  last  genera- 
tion, has  not  improved  the  press,  when  regarded 
from  the  ethical  standpoint.  With  honorable  ex- 
ceptions, newspapers  have  become  non-moral,  if  not 
immoral.  Columns  once  free  from  such  iniquities 
now  teem  with  advertisements  of  various  liquors, 
with  obscene  medical  announcements,  and  with  dan- 


22  Every-Day  Evangelism 

gerous  personals.  In  some  instances  nothing  is 
refused  which  will  pay  the  price.  What  wonder 
that  the  reading  columns  of  papers  so  sustained 
contain  jibes  at  temperance  and  morality,  vulgar 
witticisms  about  the  Bible,  and  more  or  less  open 
and  vicious  assaults  upon  reformers,  evangelists, 
and  pastors.  There  are  some  cities  in  which  wide- 
spread revivals  have  been  made  impossible,  and  in 
which  the  strength  of  the  Church  itself  is  being 
greatly  impaired  by  the  artful  or  coarse  opposition 
of  tlie  daily  papers.  The  influences  back  of  this 
hostility  vary.  Sometimes  it  is  the  Romanist  editor, 
whose  anti-Protestant  prejudice  inspires  him  to 
write  flippant  leaders  about  abnormal  and  spurious 
religious  movements,  by  inference  relating  his  criti- 
cisms to  local  undertakings.  Sometimes  it  is  the 
immature  reporter  whose  adolescent  infidelity  is 
permitted  to  flaunt  itself  in  his  accounts  of  religious 
meetings,  and  whose  animadversions  are  perhaps  the 
more  vicious  as  representing  his  backslidings  from 
the  faith  of  his  mother,  and  from  his  own  early 
experience.  Sometimes  the  press  opposition  to 
revival  movements  is  inspired  by  owners  of  theaters 
and  other  places  of  resort  whose  business  is  de- 
nounced by  evangelists  and  pastors,  and  who  burn 
to  get  even.  These  are  but  a  few  of  the  influences 
back  of  the  antagonisms  of  the  daily  paper  against 


Christianity's  Greatest  Problem    23 

religious  enterprise.  The  great  cause  of  all  is  the 
utter  worldliness  of  the  control  and  management  of 
most  journals  of  this  sort,  causing  on  the  part  of 
employees  an  absence  of  sympathy  for  those  institu- 
tions whose  service  to  the  community  is  purely 
moral.  Christian  men  of  wealth  and  talent  should 
go  into  the  business  of  making  newspapers,  not 
with  other  worldly  and  impractical  notions  and  pur- 
poses, but  to  redeem  journalism  from  crass  mate- 
rialism and  vulgarity,  and  to  engage  its  vast  popu- 
larity and  power  wholly  in  the  support  of  the  forces 
which  have  made  society  as  strong  and  pure  as  it 
is,  and  which  seek  to  transform  it  into  ultimate 
harmony  with  the  ideal  of  God.  The  daily  paper 
is  the  public's  university.  More  can  be  done  to 
educate  and  Christianize  the  world  by  applying 
money,  brains,  and  principle  to  the  production  of 
daily  literature  than  by  founding  libraries,  or  in- 
creasing the  endowments  of  colleges.  Under 
present  conditions  such  a  use  of  riches  and  skill 
would  be  the  truest  philanthropy^  Beautiful  as  is 
the  charity  which  houses  the  poor,  cares  for  the 
sick,  and  maintains  the  crippled  and  unfortunate, 
he  would  be  doing  men  a  greater  service  who  sent 
forth  into  the  market-places  and  homes  of  the 
people  a  stream  of  mental  and  moral  influence, 
clean,  wholesome,  and  elevating.     That  this  good 


24  Every-Day  Evangelism 

service  is  so  largely  omitted  is  no  slight  explana- 
tion of  the  slow  advancement  of  Christianity. 

The  question  is  sometimes  asked  if  there  is  not 
room  for  improvement  in  religious  journalism, 
especially  in  its  relation  to  the  work  of  soul-saving. 
It  must  be  confessed  that  there  are  Church  papers 
which  give  little  space  to  purely  religious  material 
and  almost  none  to  the  work  of  evangelism.  There 
are  pages  of  Churchianity  and  of  ecclesiasticism ; 
much  attention  is  given  to  travel  and  incident ;  con- 
siderable room  is  taken  up  with  personals  and  with 
news  of  offices  and  honors ;  something  is  said  about 
the  moral  struggles  of  the  time,  but  little  space  or 
thought  is  given  to  the  great  question,  "How  to 
save  mankind  from  its  sins."  In  too  many  cases, 
also,  the  praise  of  Church  papers  is  given,  not  to 
Churches  and  pastors  which  are  adding  members  by 
conversion,  but  to  those  whose  prominence  is  based 
on  quite  different  considerations.  Others,  how- 
ever, display  interest  in  ministers  who  attend  to 
their  proper  calling,  putting  the  whole  emphasis 
of  their  lives  upon  the  work  of  Christ,  and  they 
also  have  a  care  for  the  reputation  of  Churches 
which  have  enough  religious  life  to  bring  forth 
their  own  children  and  to  take  good  care  of  them. 
In  some  journals  and  elsewhere  in  religious  circles 
there  is  a  new  evangelistic  note  which  is  not  only 


Christianity's  Greatest  Problem    25 

cheering  to  weary  toilers,  but  which  speaks  well  for 
the  future  of  Christianity. 

Of  course,  the  inconsistencies  and  sins  of  Church 
members  hinder  the  salvation  of  the  world.  Every 
one  says  so,  especially  the  world  itself,  and  the  flesh 
and  the  devil,  and  in  the  agreement  of  many  wit- 
nesses there  is  thought  to  be  truth.  But  there  is 
not  so  much  in  this,  after  all,  as  there  is  in  the  work 
of  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil  in  the  human 
heart.  Admitting  that  many  are  badly  impressed 
and  evil  disposed  to  the  truth  by  reason  of  false 
professions  and  lying  lives,  yet  no  person  becomes 
a  sinner  who  is  not  "drawn  away  of  his  own  lust 
and  enticed."  Every  man  is  his  own  sinner;  it  is 
that  within  himself  which  is  his  undoing.  And 
what  an  enemy  to  righteousness  and  Christianity 
this  is,  the  desire  of  the  fallen  mind  and  heart  of 
man!  The  real  foe  is  within.  If  we  would  con- 
quer the  world  for  Christ,  we  must  overcome  the 
wickedness  of  the  human  heart.  This  can  not  be 
done  save  by  presenting  in  every  powerful,  impres- 
sive, and  attractive  way  the  cross  of  Calvary,  espe- 
cially in  lives  of  love  and  sacrifice  and  in  earnest 
eff^ort  to  make  conquest  for  that  cross  of  all  its 
opponents. 

The  cross  of  Christ  will  never  conquer  the 
world    by    indifference.     "Awake,    put    on    thy 


26  Every-Day  Evangelism 

strength,  O  Zion !"  No  truer  word  was  ever  spoken 
than  this — "An  anxious  Church  makes  anxious 
souls."  Lethargy  and  lukewarmness  in  the  Church 
are  always  reflected  in  the  community  without,  and 
so  are  religious  interest  and  ardor.  Let  it  be  known 
of  any  Church  that  it  is  very  much  alive,  and  life 
comes  flowing  into  it.  Good,  bad,  and  indiff'erent 
are  attracted,  the  good  to  help  in  the  good  work, 
the  bad  to  be  converted  to  righteous  thoughts  and 
ways,  the  indiff^erent  to  be  different  and  to  act 
accordingly.  If  this  be  true  of  a  single  Church, 
what  if  all  Churches  should  be  aroused  to  a  condi- 
tion of  vital  piety,  and  to  the  zeal  of  the  crusader? 
Even  then  the  battles  of  Christianity  would  not  be 
won  in  a  day,  or  without  severe  struggles,  but  there 
would  be  mighty  victories,  hastening  the  final  con- 
quest, complete  and  glorious. 

The^responsibilityof  the  average  Christian 
who  believes  in  the  work  of  the  evangelist,  but  who 
does  not  see  or  feel  the  pressure  of  his  own  duty 
inj'elation  to  it,  is  one  of  Jthe  greatest  obstacles  to 
be^vercome.  The  cooling  down  of  Christianity,  so 
evident  in  the  temper  of  religious  literature,  in  the 
tone  of  pulpit  and  prayer-meeting,  and  in  the  les- 
sening proportion  of  time  and  thought  relatively 
given  to  spiritual  matters,  is  the  main  cause.  But 
there  are  many  who  are  really  willing  and  even 


Christianity's  Greatest  Problem   27 

eager  to  do  the  work  of  Christ,  who  do  not  know 
just  how  to  go  about  it.  They  would  quicken  others, 
if  set  at  definite  tasks.  There  is  need,  therefore, 
not  only  of  inspiration,  but  especially  of  suggestion 
and  direction.  Appeals  which  do  not  point  to^ 
specific  deeds,  and  which  are  not  accompanied  by 
instruction  in  the  arts  of  Christian  helpfulness,' 
gradually  lose  force  and  fall  to  the  ground.  It  is 
essential  that  those  who  have  been  doing  their _work 
too  much  by  themselves  become  teachers  of  others, 
both  helping  them  into  and  in  their  service  by_the 
exposition  of  ways  and  means.  Let  it  be  felt  that 
the  winning  and  culture  of  souls  is  not  the  business 
of  ministers,  missionaries,  and  evangelists  alone,  but 
of  all  Christians.  Let  it  be  seen  that  the  work 
with  converts  is  not  finished  when  they  are  located 
in  Church  membership,  but  that  for  their  own  as- 
surance and  for  the  growth  of  the  kingdom  they 
should  be  at  once  enlisted  in  the  ranks  of  those  who 
strive  to  bring  into  the  faith  and  keeping  of  Christ 
their  friends  and  neighbors.  Let  it  be  taught  that 
while  there  is  truth  in  the  saying,  "He  also  serves 
who  only  stands  and  waits,"  yet  no  willing  idler 
pleases  God. 

He  who  is  satisfied  with  personal  salvation,  not 
troubling  himself  about  mankind  in  general,  is  in 
peril  of  his  own  soul,  possessing  little  of  the  spirit 


28  Every-Day  Evangelism 

of  Christ.  The  unfruitful  branch  shall  be  cut  off 
and  cast  into  the  fire.  There  is  a  just  scorn  which 
rests  upon  one  who  stands  by  while  others  perish. 
Society  both  condemned  and  effectually  punished  a 
man  who  stood  on  the  banks  of  a  slender  stream 
while  a  golden-haired  child  drowned  before  his  eyes. 
Not  even  the  plea  of  inability  to  swim  saved  him 
from  indignation.  He  should  have  made  the 
effort,  so  thought  the  community.  And  so  should 
every  Christian  make  the  effort  to  w^in  others  to 
Christ,  and  he  can  plead  no  defense  at  all,  since  the 
endeavor  to  rescue  lost  souls  from  the  waves  of 
sin  and  to  make  them  helpers  in  the  work  of  God 
is  in  no  way  dangerous  to  him  who  undertakes  it, 
but  strengthens  all  the  forces  of  his  own  life. 


CHAPTER  II 
EVANGELISTIC  EFFORTS 

Among  the  just  criticisms  which  have  been 
brought  against  evangehstic  efforts,  are  that  they 
have  been  too  often  abnormal,  partial,  and  periodic. 
The  first  of  these  is  of  least  importance,  for  who  is 
to  say  what  is  normal  and  what  is  abnormal  ?  And 
considering  the  abnormal  conditions  into  which  so 
many  have  been  brought  by  their  transgressions  of 
the  law  of  righteousness,  what  proof  is  there  that 
all  men  can  be  recovered  to  virtue  and  faith  by 
processes  which  by  persons  of  refinement  may  be 
termed  normal?  Rough  work  requires  rough 
handhng.  Severe  sickness  demands  severe  treat- 
ment. In  the  works  of  nature  there  is  room  for 
tempest  as  well  as  for  sunshine,  for  tides,  floods, 
and  earthquakes,  as  well  as  for  smooth,  mild  sea- 
sons. It  would  be  strange,  therefore,  if  there 
should  not  be  place  in  the  operations  of  Divine 
grace  for  currents  of  emotion,  for  discharges  of 
accusation  and  exhortation  with  resultant  explo- 

29 


30  Every-Day  Evangelism 

sions  of  feeling,  which  to  culture  may  seem  hysteri- 
cal or  even  hypocritical,  but  which  are  the  power 
of  God  encountering  and  overcoming  strong  oppo- 
sitions. There  is  no  ministering  to  elemental 
natures  and  needs  without  elemental  measures.  This 
may  be  the  explanation  for  the  religious  attitude 
of  a  large  part  of  the  common  people — the  Church 
steps  in  patent  leather,  uses  kid  gloves,  talks  in 
velvet  phrases,  and  invites  with  dignity.  There  is 
more  than  a  suspicion  on  the  part  of  the  Church 
itself  that  its  evangelistic  efforts  are  too  normal, 
usual,  and  flat.  There  is  sometimes  a  longing  for 
the  simple  worship,  plain  preaching,  and  vigorous 
and  heartfelt  enthusiasm  which  is  more  often  found 
in  backwoods  communities  and  in  rescue  missions. 
To  one  who  has  studied  the  matter,  it  is  not  sur- 
prising to  find  cultured  Christians,  when  drawn  into 
gospel  halls.  Salvation  Army  barracks,  or  McCauley 
missions,  profoundly  impressed  and  greatly  moved. 
They  are  thus  brought  near  to  nature's  throbbing 
heart,  to  that  universal  reservoir  of  feeling  in 
which  we  were  all  baptized  in  childhood,  and  from 
which,  if  we  had  never  departed,  we  would  find 
in  life  and  in  religion  more  interest  and  satis- 
faction. 

The  charge  that  evangelism  has  been  fragmen- 
tary and  occasional  in  its  character  is  both  true  and 


Evangelistic  Efforts  31 

serious.  The  failure  of  the  gospel  more  swiftly 
to  win  its  way  is  not  to  be  attributed  wholly  to 
the  difficulties  and  hindrances  before  it,  but  also 
to  the  incompleteness  of  its  attack.  It  is  a  rela- 
tively small  number  of  Christians  who  are  invited 
to  assume  any  definite  responsibility  in  connection 
with  this  work.  In  geneml_ terms  all  believers  are 
urged  from  pulpit  and  platform  to  help  Christian- 
ize the  world,  but  usually  obedience  to  the  desire 
or  purpose  thus  created  is  left  to  chance,  or  at 
best  to  individual^mitiative.  The  result  is  just 
what  it  would  be  in  any  other  undertaking — ^busi- 
ness, for  example.  Persons  capable  of  establish- 
ing a  new  enterprise  or  even  of  profitably  directing 
their  own  energies  are  relatively  few.  System  is 
needed,  and  captains  of  industry  benefit  the  world  ^ 
by  skillfully  adapting  various  processes  of  manu- 
facture and  distribution  of  goods  to  the  abilities 
of  the  masses,  and  by  drawing  them  into  productive 
activity.  InjChristianity  there  is  top_  much  oratory 
and  too  little  application.  He  is  considered  very 
great  who  can  earnestly  and  pathetically  talk 
about  work.  There  are  famous  preachers,  whose! 
fervid  appeals  delight  vast  audiences  at  summer* 
resorts  and  elsewhere,  who  have  not  by  knowledge, 
and  patience  produced  in  their  own  fields  a  work-/ 
ing  plant  with  the  efficiency  of  a  toy  windmill.^ 


32  Every-Day  Evangelism 

Noted  laymen  make  powerful  speeches  at  conven- 
tions, who  would  hardly  be  recognized  if  met  face 
to  face  by  any  actual  worker  of  their  home  Church. 
The  tmie  has  not  come  when  Cliristian  leaders 
are  measured  by  results,  or  when  the  justice  of 
President  Eliot's  saying  is  recognized,  that  to 
arouse  emotion  without  leading  it  to  a  suitable 
expression  is  a  sin.  This  is  also  the  height  of 
folly.  Suppose  a  manufacturer  should  call  to- 
gether on  Monday  morning  three  or  four  hundred 
workmen,  should  give  tliem  a  carefully  wrought 
and  able  lecture  on  the  value  of  labor,  closing  with 
a  touching  incident  or  two  from  the  history  of  the 
world's  workers,  and  with  some  reference  to  the 
future  rewards  of  toil,  and  should  then  permit 
them  to  go  home,  to  comment  favorably  or  un- 
favorably upon  his  address,  to  eat  their  dinner 
with  a  sense  of  having  well  discharged  their  duty, 
but  without  having  been  directed  to  any  special 
task,  and  not  to  be  called  together  again  until 
another  speech  is  ready,  perhaps  this  time  upon  the 
[esthetic  influence  of  the  higher  arts,  or  on  the 
esoteric  philosophy  of  Browning.  How  many 
goods  would  be  turned  out  of  an  establishment  so 
conducted?  What  wages  would  be  earned  there, 
or  what  values  produced  to  enrich  society?  A 
Church  conducted  on  this  plan  is  scarcely  more 


Evangelistic  Efforts  88 

useful  to  any  practical  purpose.  Let  it  not  be 
thought  that  no  good  is  attributed  to  the  mere 
planting  of  ideas  in  the  minds  of  hearers,  or  to  the 
kindly  offices  of  unaggressive  pastors  and  societies. 
It  is  not  that  there  is  no  good  jjoae,  but  that  there 
i§  no  growthj  no  production  of  the  sway  of  the 
Church  to  larger  limits,  no  lengthening  of  the 
cords  of  the  tent,  increasing  its  inmates  to  their 
infinite  good  and  to  the  glory  of  God. 

There  are  evangelists  to  whose  credit  it  should 
be  put  that  they  lay  considerable  emphasis  upon 
preliminary  work  before  they  conduct  a  mission. 
They  furnish  literature,  outlining  a  committee 
scheme,  and  prescribing  useful  duties  for  the  many. 
It  is  the  objection  that  the  plan  is  usually  not 
carried  out,  or  at  least  not  until  the  evangelist's 
arrival  is  pending.  But  a  deeper  fault  is  that  at 
the  best  the  plan  is  but  for  a  few  weeks,  to  be 
preceded  and  followed  by  complete  inactivity  with 
reference  to  such  duties. 

The  Bible-school  should  be  praised  for  inspir- 
ing its  teachers  to  seek  the  salvation  of  their  pupils. 
There  are  college  professors  and  others,  who,  as  a 
rule,  are  not  attendants,  who  have  many  severe 
words  to  say  about  the  Sunday-school  as  an  edu- 
cator. It  doubtless  is  true  that  there  is  room  for 
improvement  in  the  methods  of  its  Bible  teaching, 
3 


34  Every-Day  Evangelism 

but  It  is  the  writer's  opinion,  after  years  of  con- 
stant and  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  work 
done,  that  in  its  proper  sphere  as  a  teacher  of 
morality  and  of  Christ,  the  Sunday-school  has  no 
equal.  If  the  main  object  of  education  be,  as 
John  Locke  said,  "Not  to  make  scholars,  but  to 
produce  virtuous  and  wise  men,"  then  it  would  be 
easy  to  show  that  this  work  is  most  effectively  ac- 
complished by  the  Church  school  and  not  by  the 
secular  school.  Yet  it  must  be  admitted  that  the 
soul-winning  efforts  of  the  Sunday-school  are  too 
much  confined  to  decision  days,  and  to  the  short 
periods  when  special  evangelistic  services  are  being 
held  in  the  church.  Of  course,  also,  there  are 
teachers  whose  hearts  are  not  with  the  main  pur- 
pose of  the  school,  and  there  seems  to  be  no  plan 
for  enlisting  even  the  adult  pupils  in  a  general 
effort  for  the  school  itself  or  for  the  community. 
This  is  a  defect  which  calls  for  immediate  remedy. 
For  its  virtues  and  enlightenment  the  world  is 
greatly  indebted  to  revivals  of  religion.  If  it 
were  within  the  compass  of  the  present  plan,  many 
pages  might  be  written  setting  forth  the  debt  of 
education  and  of  civilization  to  these  great  move- 
ments. As  for  Christianity,  it  is  questionable 
whether  it  could  have  survived  the  constant  pres- 
sure of  evil  from  without  and  from  within  its  in- 


Evangelistic  Efforts  35 

stitutions  were  it  not  for  seasonable  renewals  of 
its  vitality  from  this  source. 

In  one  view  of  it  the  Christian  Church  is  itself  a 
revival  product.  The  Crusades,  the  Reformation, 
Puritanism,  Methodism — these  are  names  repre- 
senting influences  which  the  world  can  never  forget. 
In  America  the  New  England  revival  of  1734,  and 
the  general  movement  of  1857  are  of  precious 
memory,  as  they  were  gracious  in  power.  Great 
names  have  been  produced  by  modern  revivals,  per- 
haps most  distinguished  of  all  those  of  Finney  and 
Moody,  and  in  another  phase,  Henry  Drummond. 
No  student  of  religious  history  can  afford  to  do 
injustice  to  the  records  of  such  men,  and  still  less 
will  he  find  it  reasonable  to  ignore  or  to  underrate 
the  importance  of  the  general  work  in  which  they 
have  been  factors.  'In  many  periods  of  Church 
history,  revivals  have  been  imperatively  necessary, 
which  is  likely  to  be  the  case  in  the  future;  and 
they  are  not  to  be  looked  upon  as  interferences 
with  natural  law  or  with  the  normal  progress  of 
Christianity,  but  as  being  not  less  vitally  a  part  of 
the  Divine  plan  of  saving  the  world  than  are  more 
ordinary  agencies.  Nevertheless,  revivals  of  the 
true  sort  do  not  occur  annually  in  each  Church,  say 
beginning  the  first  week  of  January.  They  are 
not  to  be  undertaken  simply  by  appointment  with 


36  Every-Day  Evangelism 

an  evangelist  six  months  in  advance,  and  to  last 
three  weeks,  including  four  Sundays,  with  a  free- 
will offering  the  last  week.  Or  if  they  are  so 
undertaken,  and  if  the  matter  is  then  regarded  as 
disposed  of  for  that  year,  let  it  not  be  thought 
surprising  if  the  work  be  superficial,  reactionary, 
and  thoroughly  disappointing,  except  to  indiffer- 
ence or  to  easy  optimism. 

In  general,  it  should  be  said  that  the  Church 
which  depends  upon  some  one  to  come  and  fetch 
a  revival,  or  which  expects,  under  the  most  favor- 
able circumstances,  to  do  its  evangelistic  work  in 
the  space  of  a  month  or  at  most  of  six  weeks 
annually,  is  under  a  total  misapprehension  of  the 
true  laws  of  increase.  Revivals  should  be  longed 
for,  prayed  for,  and  expected,  l^t  not  in  lieu  of 
regular  and  sustained  labors  in  the  work  o£  teach- 
ing and  preaching  Christ  to  the  unsaved ;  rather 
as  its  result,  when  this  work  has  been  so  well  done 
that  interest  in  religion  has  become  deep-seated  and 
general.  It  is  not  that  special  meetings  should 
never  be  undertaken  until  this  feeling  is  evident. 
Success  has  been  realized,  when  to  the  eye  of  human 
wisdom  it  appeared  hopeless,  but  never  when  there 
had  not  been  earnest  prayerful  preparation  and 
seed  sown  by  some  one.  Pastors  and  Churches 
should  always  be  striving  and  looking  toward  a 


Evangelistic  Efforts  37 

religious  crisis  and  sudden  enlargement,  but  they 
should  be  relieved  of  the  dismal  task  of  announcing 
this  at  stated  intervals,  and  of  going  through  the 
forms  when  there  is  no  readiness  for  such  an  ex- 
perience, or  likelihood  of  its  occurring. 

Would  there  were  more  evangelists  like  Charles 
G.  Finney,  who,  coming  to  a  city  and  finding  no 
maturity  of  plans  or  spirit,  would  shake  off  its  dust 
from  their  shoes  without  attempting  ridiculous 
impossibilities.  Pastors,  too,  should  have  the  cour- 
age, and  Churchmen  the  good  sense,  to  work  on 
quietly  but  faithfully  until  the  signals  of  the  Spirit 
of  God  indicate  that  the  harvest  is  ripe,  and  that 
it  is  time,  with  or  without  accessories  and  assist- 
ants, to  gather  in  its  many  sheaves.  Undesired  and 
immature  evangelistic  campaigns,^  widely  adver- 
tised both  in  previous  boastings  and  in  after  bar- 
renness, have  deadened  the  religious  life  of  many 
communities.  At  cost  of  the  profits  of  profes- 
sional evangelists,  and  even  of  the  winnowing  out 
of  the  ranks,  let  this  work  stop.  It  tends  to  make 
genuine  and  timely  revivals  impossible. 

The  need  of  the  times  is  expressed  in  the  title 
of  this  book.  The  earnest  and  able  address  of 
Bishop  Edwin  H.  Hughes,  published  in  Dr.  Brush- 
ingham's  book  and  referred  to  elsewhere,  was  given 
the  same  title,  probably  a  little  before  the  time 


38  Every-Day  Evangelism 

when  this  book  began  to  be  prepared.  The^best 
evangelistic  work  is  that  form  which  enlists  the 
largest  number  of  helpers.  Using  a  synthesis 
of  methods,  in  which  all  talents  and  offices  are 
recognized  and  employed,  it  puts  greatest  emphasis 
upon  personal  work.  It  is  strongly  urged  that 
personal  work  to  be  most  effective  must  be  sys- 
tematized, giving  attention  to  training  in  methods 
and  leading  those  who  undertake  it  to  co-ordinate 
their  efforts,  uniting  their  endeavors  in  order  to 
secure  better  and  quicker  results.  The  idea  should 
obtain,  moreover,  that  the  evangelistic  efforts  of 
the  Church  and  of  the  individual  should  be  con- 
tinuous, knowing;  Jig  intermittance,  carrying  their 
loving  zeal  into  all  seasons  of  the  year,  into  all 
localities,  including  those  of  temporary  residence 
or  even  of  recreation,  and  throughout  life  from 
the  dawn  of  Christian  existence  to  its  attainment  of 
the  final  well-done,  which  will  be  the  highest  reward 
of  every  sincere  spirit.  And  it  can  not  be  too 
strongly  emphasized  or  too  often  reiterated  that 
it  should  never  be  the  case  that  the  interest  of  the 
worker  ceases  when  some  formal  confession  of 
Christ  has  been  obtained.  The  keeping  and  the 
using  of  converts  are  matters  for  deep  concern.  It 
is  a  poor  personal  work  which  stops  short  of  pro- 
ducing an  intelligent  faith,  together  with  the  in- 


Evangelistic  Efforts  39 

troduction  of  the  new  believer  into  Christian  rela- 
tions in  which  he  can  both  get  and  do  much  good. 
One  of  the  most  discouraging  characteristics  of 
modern  Church  work  is  the  small  proportion  of 
non-Christians  in^jdivine  services.  Who  has  not 
witnessed  some  test  in  a  large  congregation,  reveal- 
ing the  fact  that  scarcely  any  but  believers  and 
Church  members  were  present?  And  there  are 
many  places  where  the  condition  named  does  not 
change  even  with  the  coming  of  noted  revivalists, 
accompanied  by  famous  singers.  Our  complex  life, 
with  its  increasing  pre-occupation,  is  mainly  re- 
sponsible for  this,  no  doubt,  and,  in  part,  it  may 
be  the  result  of  past  coercions  and  of  divisions 
which  caused  embarrassment.  But  whatever  rea- 
son may  be  alleged  for  it,  the  fact  remains  that 
when  we  wish  to  reach  them  within  the  walls  of  the 
church,  the  majority  of  the  unsaved  and  prac- 
tically all  of  the  skeptics  are  absent.  Therefore, 
the^bsolute  necessity  of  wayside  evangelism.  "Go 
out  quickly  into  the  streets  and  lanes  of  the  city." 
"The  commission,"  Rev.  W.  B.  Riley  comments  on 
this  passage,^  "is  just  as  incumbent  as  that  of 
evangelizing  the  world.  It  is  a  question,  indeed, 
whether  we  shall  go  gospelizing  the  public  or  con- 
tinue to  speak  only  to  that  small  fraction  which 
i"The  Perennial  Revival,"  Riley,  p.  190. 


40  Every-Day  Evangelism 

we  can  coax  within  the  walls  of  the  church-house. 
We  find  this  statement  in  the  Journal  of  the 
grand  John  Wesley :  *I  preached  near  the  hospital 
to  twice  the  people  we  should  have  had  at  the 
house.  What  marvel  that  the  devil  does  not  like 
field  preaching!  Neither  do  I!  I  like  a  commo- 
dious room,  a  soft  cushion,  a  handsome  pulpit.  But 
where  is  my  zeal,  if  I  do  not  trample  all  these 
under  foot,  in  order  to  save  one  more  soul?"  Dr. 
Riley  urges  street  preaching,  and  well  describes  the 
misery  of  the  street  and  the  need  of  this  kind  of 
evangelism.  But  the  opportunity  and  necessity  of 
the  one  by  one  method  of  access  to  people  who  do 
not  attend  Church  are  even  more  imperative. 

The  early  Methodists — John  Wesley,  White- 
field,  Asbury,  and  the  other  great  leaders  were 
copied  in  this  by  their  helpers  and  by  hundreds  of 
the  laity — were  preachers  by  the  wayside  to  single 
individuals.  Much  of  their  best  work  was  done  in 
this  way,  and  the  early  records  of  Methodism  are 
full  of  accounts,  amusing  sometimes,  and  at  other 
times  inspiring  or  pathetic,  of  the  conversations 
which  took  place  between  these  indefatigable  win- 
ners of  men,  and  those  whom  they  met  in  their 
travels  and  visits.  When  one  allows  for  differences 
of  times  and  of  circumstances,  there  seems  a  direct 
correspondence    between    these    experiences     and 


Evangelistic  Efforts  41 

those  of  many  of  the  reformers,  of  the  followers  of 
WicklifFe  and  of  the  early  Franciscans  and  their 
devout  leader.  *(A.nd  surely  Paul  and  Barnabas, 
Peter  and  Timothy,  and  the  other  first  Christians, 
set  the  example  of  an  every-day,  everywhere  evan- 
gelism which  caught  its  spirit  and  method  from 
Him  who  talked  with  the  woman  at  the  well-curb, 
who  called  Zacchaeus  out  of  the  tree,  who  went 
after  Matthew  at  the  tax  office,  and  who  took  Peter 
and  John  from  their  fishers'  nets. J 

There  is  something  about  the  phrase,  "Back  to 
Christ,"  which  always  displeases  me,  for  I  do  not 
think  that  Christ  is  "back"  in  place,  in  time,  or  ii; 
anything.  But  there  is,  after  all,  a  meaning  in 
this  expression  which  we  can  not  get  away  from; 
we  need  to  get  back  from  the  spirit  and  methods 
which  are  not  Christlike  to  the  place  where  Jesus 
leads  His  people  to  successful  conquests.  He  is 
to-day,  as  He  has  ever  been,  the  Christ  of  men.  He 
calls  us  to  seek  His  lost  sheep,  to  "go  out  into  the 
highways  and  hedges  and  compel  them  to  come  in." 
This  is  His  leading,  and  if  we  earnestly  wish  to 
bring  the  world  about  us  to  Christ,  as  Howard  A. 
Bridgman  says:'  "We  must  solicit  men  one  by_ 
one.     There jsnp_^the£T^         We  may  talk  to  the 

2  Quoted  from  article  In  Independent,  November  3,  1898,  \>y 
S.  M.  Sayford,  in  "  Personal  Work." 


42  Every-Day  Evangelism 

end  of  the  century  about  methods  and  about  the 
problem.  But  it  may  be  time  to  act  on  the  prin- 
ciple which  governed  the  profound  Squeers  in  the 
conduct  of  his  school,  when  a  boy  knows  a  thing,  he 
goes  and  does  it!  We  ought  to  know  personally 
some  of  the  persons  in  regard  to  whom  we  theorize 
so  much — and  if  the  Church  of  Christ  means  any- 
thing to  us,  then  let  us  go  out  after  other  men. 
Given  sufficient  tact  and  persistence,  we  shall  find 
some  way  to  induce  them  to  cast  their  lot  with 
God's  people!" 


CHAPTER  III 
CONTINUOUS  EVANGELISM 

It  may  strike  some  one,  even  with  the  force  of 
originality,  to  be  told  that  in  very  few  Churches^is 
there^a^  membership  depart  That  this  should 

be  true  seems  little  short  of  marvelous,  when  it  is 
remembered  that  the  whole  life  and  future  of  each 
Church  depends  upon  the  repair  of  losses  in  the 
ranks  of  adherents  and  workers.  Other  religious 
and  many  secular  societies  have  definite  and  even 
elaborate  plans  for  self -renewal  and  strengthening, 
but  the  Church  usually  depends  upon  the  religious 
initiative  of  the  outsider,  save  for  the  influence 
exerted  by  the  pastor  and  the  spontaneous  efforts 
of  a  few.  The  wonder,  therefore,  is  not  that  the 
numerical  gains  of  Christianity  are  not  greater, 
but  that  there  is  not  rapid  depletion  of  the  ranks. 
Defections  are  constant,  due  often  to  removal  from 
one  place  to  another,  but  more  frequently  the  result 
of  inactivity,  with  consequent  loss  of  interest. 
There  is  no  organization  to  seek  and  to  follow  up 
new  members, jpr  to  aid  in  their  adjustment  to^  the 
life  and  work  of  the  Church.     The  tide  incoming 

43 


44  Every-Day  Evangelism 

is  fortunately  a  little  greater  than  the  tide  out- 
going. This  is  true  throughout  the  land  gener- 
ally. But  the  losses  may  be  greatly  lessened,  and 
at  the  same  time  the  gains  of  each  Church  may  be 
increased  by  a  well  devised  plan  of  continuous 
evangelism  and  watch  care. 

To  say  that  evangelism  should  be  continuous 
is  not  to  say  that  it  is  to_be^ade  monotonous^ 
There  have  been  not  a  few  instances  of  threadbare 
and  frayed-out  gospeling,  which,  in  addition  to 
failing  utterly,  have  wearied,  if  not  disgusted,  sen- 
sible people.  The  work  of  winning  souls  is  not  to 
be  constantly  cried  with  the  persistence  and  same- 
ness of  a  fish-wife.  The  invitation  to  seek  religion 
is  not  with  tedious  reiteration  to  be  formally  pro- 
posed at  all  services  of  the  congregation  or  in  all 
social  circles.  The  best  things  in  the  world  may 
be  made  too  familiar  and  too  cheap.  Patriotism 
would  become  a  jest  if  Fourth  of  July  orations 
were  delivered  daily.  Love  grows  cold  if  prated 
constantly,  as  truly  as  when  it  is  never  spoken. 
Churches  have  starved  in  soul  when  treated  to  an 
unvaried  diet  of  exhortation  without  instruction. 
I  have  known  the  same  Church  to  have  three  drawn- 
out  and  practically  unsuccessful  series  of  revival 
meetings  in  the  same  year,  and  the  personal  work 
of  well-meaning  individuals  has  been  known  to  be 


Continuous  Evangelism  45 

as  senseless  and  useless.  Conducted,  if  with  sin- 
cerit}^,  yet  without  intelligence,  evangelization  has 
been  done  to  death;  not  as  often  as  it  has  been 
wholly  neglected,  but  frequently  enough. 

Yet  there  is  no  work  capable  of  being  made  so 
thrilling  in  its  interest  or  so  powerful  in  its  hold 
upon  the  mind.  It  will  be  said  that  what  is  needed 
to  redeem  the  undertaking  from  sameness  and 
weakness  is  spiritual  power.  Doubtless !  But  the 
power  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  like  the  so-called  natural 
forces,  which  are  but  so  many  expressions  of  the 
divine  energy,  is  to  be  applied  by  consecrated 
knowledge,  and  without  doubt  our  real  need  is 
often  that  expressed  by  the  dark-hued  philosopher 
who  informed  a  tedious  brother,  clamoring  for 
power,  that  his  need  was  not  more  power,  but  more 
ideas.  Let  no  one  bring  the  accusation  that  this 
is  exalting  the  human  and  belittling  the  divine  ele- 
ments in  the  work  of  redemption.  It  is  merely 
demanding  that  men  stand  up  and  do  their  own 
thinking  as  well  as  working  for  the  salvation  of  the 
race. 

Every-day  evangelism  is  an  ideal.  There  is 
also  a  method.  Rather  as  has  been  suggested, 
there  ma}^  be  a  wise  combination  and  interchange 
of  all  good  methods,  wliich  systematized  and 
adapted  to  local  conditions  and  needs,  will  make  it 


46  Every-Day  Evangelism 

possible  to  project  the  work  of  teaching  and  of 
conversion  throughout  the  entire  year  and  every 
year,  and  this  without  diminution,  but  with  increas- 
ing interest. 

The  following  plan  of  enlisting  and  educating 
a  permanent  force  of  Christians  who  will  take  up 
the  duties  of  continuous  evangelism  has  been  em- 
ployed with  such  degree  of  success,  as  inspires  con- 
fidence that  it  is  worth  while  and  worthy  of  recom- 
mendation to  those  who  have  not  tried  it.  It  is 
offered  as  suggestive,  not  as  being  complete  in 
detail.  The  best  features  of  the  plan  are  that  it 
may  be  used  in  any  parish,  large  or  small,  in  city 
or  country ;  it  may  be  undertaken  by  an  unlimited 
force  of  workers  or  by  two ;  it  comprises  study  and 
instruction  as  well  as  inspiration;  it  throws  the 
Christian  work  of  the  Church  upon  its  own  shoul- 
ders and  resources ;  it  develops  the  abilities  of  many 
new  workers,  preparing  them  for  Church  offices, 
and  leading  some  to  think  of  giving  their  lives  to 
any  service  for  which  God  may  call  them.  The 
plan  is  much  like  that  of  the  Master  in  His  deal- 
ings with  the  Apostolic  company,  and  with  the 
seventy.  All  of  its  parts  have  assured  Scriptural 
warrant.  There  is  in  its  working  excellent  prep- 
aration for  more  general  and  widespread  religious 
movements  which  may  visit  the  locality.     The  ele- 


Continuous  Evangelism  47 

ment  of  expense  is  inconsiderable,  but  the  execu- 
tion of  this  plan  is  not  without  cost.  Large  ex- 
penditures of  thought  and  labor  must  be  made  if 
the  highest  possibilities  are  to  be  realized.  The 
years  during  which  it  has  been  tried  have  but  in- 
creased the  conviction  of  its  importance,  and  have 
left  the  impression  that  with  the  experience  gained, 
it  can  be  far  better  done  in  the  future. 

Before  the  rush  season  of  Church  work  is  on, 
select  a  number  of  persons  who  are  either  good 
personal  workers,  or  who  are  willing  to  consider 
becoming  such.  Any  number  may  be  used  in  this 
company.  No  person,  by  virtue  of  his  position  or 
otherwise,  should  be  made  to  feel  that  he  is  coerced 
into  membership.  In  every  way  and  under  all  cir- 
cumstances, this  undertaking  should  seem  to  the 
whole  Church,  and  especially  to  those  actively 
related  to  it,  to  be  without  pressure,  a  free-will  and 
loving  service.  Some  should,  if  possible,  be  in- 
duced to  co-operate  with  a  view,  not  alone  to 
present  abilities,  but  to  future  helpfulness.  The 
training  school  idea  should  not  be  lost  sight  of  in 
the  personnel.  If  of  considerable  size,  the  commit- 
tee may  be  divided  into  pairs  or  groups.  If  the 
division  is  into  groups,  let  there  be  a  leader  elected 
or  appointed  for  each  group.  All  members  should 
meet  at  regular  seasons,  perhaps  once  a  month,  and 


48  Every-Day  Evangelism 

the  smaller  groups  as  often  as  the  leaders  and 
members  may  desire.  In  the  regular  meetings  of 
the  committee  let  there  be  three  exercises  from  the 
first.  Always  have  prayer  for  the  conversion  of  the 
unsaved,  and  for  the  strengthening  of  the  whole 
work  of  the  Church.  As  Spurgeon  said :  "Prayer 
and  means  must  go  together.  Means  without 
prayer — presumption!  Prayer  without  means — 
hypocrisy!"^  There  should,  also,  be  lectures  and 
studies  upon  the  theme  of  personal  work,  and  the 
formation  and  maturing  of  plans  for  the  actual 
duties  proposed,  with  reports  and  discussions  of  the 
same,  keeping  pace  with  the  development  of  the 
enterprise. 

The  prayer  service  should  be  neither  formal 
nor  careless.  It  need  not  be  lengthy,  but  it  should 
always  be  heartfelt.  A  number  of  brief  petitions 
by  members  of  the  company  will  prove  more  inspir- 
ing and  effective  than  one  or  two  long  supplica- 
tions, however  ably  offered. 

Hints  as  to  the  nature  of  the  studies  and  ad- 
dresses likely  to  be  helpful  are  given  elsewhere.  In 
reports  and  discussions,  unnecessary  personalities 
are  to  be  avoided.  When  more  intimate  councils 
are  needed,  they  should  take  place  between  the 
leaders  and  individual  members  or  in  the  smaller 


l"Tlie  Soul  Winner,"  p.  148. 


Continuous  Evangelism  49 

groups.  From  the  outset,  work  is  to  be  done.  The 
idea  should  not  be  permitted  to  obtain  that  a  course 
of  training  is  to  be  received,  after  which  practical 
use  will  be  made  of  the  knowledge  gained.  Instruc- 
tion is  helpful,  but  wisdom  is  attained  more  rapidly 
by  doing  things.  In  all  Christian  endeavor,  study 
and  labor  should  go  hand  in  hand.  If  this  is  con- 
tinued but  for  a  single  year,  part,  at  least,  of  the 
committee  will  have  grown  stronger  in  love  for 
Christ,  and  in  ability  to  serve  Him,  while  there 
can  not  fail  to  have  been  some  definite  results  in 
conversions  and  accessions  to  the  Church. 

The  plan  is  by  no  means  complete  with  the 
above  general  outline  of  its  organization  and 
meetings.  It  proposes  a  better  advertising  of  the 
services  of  the  Church;  the  use  of  Uterature,  not 
only  by  the  workers  themselves,  but  in  the  whole 
society  and  vicinity.  The  representatives  of  various 
Church  departments,  the  Sunday-school,  young 
people's  societies,  brotherhoods,  and  missionary  or- 
ganizations, are  to  secure  co-operation  in  the  gen- 
eral effort  on  the  part  of  these  agencies.  There  is 
a  necessary  assistance  from  the  pulpit  and  in  the 
public  services  of  the  Church,  without  which  the 
outcome  will  be  unsatisfactory.  It  will  be  seen  that 
in  this  plan  there  is  room  for  all  persons  who  really 
wish  to  devote  their  powers  to  Christian  work. 
4 


50  Every-Day  Evangelism 

Every  temperament  and  type  of  personality  be- 
comes usable.  There  is  constant  provision  for  emer- 
gencies which  may  arise  in  the  cultivation  of  the 
field,  some  one  to  whom  to  refer  special  cases  of 
religious  need,  or  a  whole  force  instantly  ready  for 
a  forward  movement.  A  nucleus  of  thoughtful 
helpers  is  created,  which  will  be  an  increasing  aid 
and  comfort  to  the  pastor  as  its  knowledge  and 
experience  extends.  The  reproach  that  the  Church 
is  doing  nothing  will  have  less  basis  in  truth,  and 
the  Church  member  who  justifies  his  inactivity  by 
sa3ring,  "No  man  hath  hired  me,"  will  be  found 
without  excuse  for  idleness. 

There  is  nothing  about  this  work  to  require  it 
to  be  brought  to  an  end  and  cease.  From  year 
to  year  and  all  the  year  round  loss  of  workers  may 
be  repaired,  and  with  a  little  variety  in  the  teach- 
ing and  with  constantly  new  plans,  the  work  may 
go  on  without  a  break.  General  meetings  may  be 
omitted  during  July  and  August,  or  they  may  be 
held,  but  the  actual  service  may  be  continued  as 
usual  with  perhaps  greater  freedom  of  time  and 
opportunity.  From  year  to  year  fellowships  will 
be  formed  through  the  delightful  associations  of 
co-operative  work  of  this  kind,  which  will  be  closer 
and  more  powerful  in  their  influence  than  ordinary 
Christian  relationships.     In  all  that  is  done  there 


Continuous  Evangelism  51 

will  also  be  the  gratification  which  comes  to  those 
who  espouse  a  great  cause,  and  who  have  the  con- 
sciousness that  the  labor  has  been  worth  the  sacri- 
fice, and  that  they  have  had  some  part,  however 
small,  in  the  triumph  which  has  been  secured  in  all 
ages  and  lands  by  those  similarly  engaged. 

In  the  operation  of  this  type  of  evangelistic 
effort,  it  is  not  necessary  to  advertise  publicly  what 
is  being  done.  No  banner  need  be  placed  on  the 
Church  front,  or  notice  given  to  the  newspapers. 
The  general  congregation  need  not  be  informed  of 
the  purposes  and  methods  involved.  There  is 
nothing  to  be  gained  and  much  may  be  lost  by  the 
blowing  of  trumpets.  Indeed,  this  is  a  frequent 
cause  of  failure  in  Christian  work  of  every  kind. 
The  public  has  no  right  to  an  exposition  of  all 
that  is  planned  and  hoped  for,  as  nothing  is  in- 
tended which  is  beyond  the  province  of  the  Church 
in  its  greatest  responsibility. 

A  name  may  be  chosen  like  "The  Forward 
Movement,"  "The  Special  Committee,"  "The 
Worker's  Band,"  "The  Training  Class,"  "The  Ex- 
tension Committee,"  or  the  "Membership  Circle," 
which  does  not  convey  to  the  mind  the  idea  of  the 
full  propaganda  intended.  The  more  expressive 
name,  "Membership  Department,"  will  be  preferred 
by  many,  as  stating  exactly  what  is  proposed  with- 


52  Every-Day  Evangelism 

out  conveying  sufficient  information  as  to  details 
as  to  cause  embarrassment. 

As  there  are  no  boasts  of  what  is  to  be  done, 
there  can  be  no  failure ;  everything  accomplished  is 
clear  gain.  The  unconverted,  hearing  little  or 
nothing  of  a  general  plan  for  their  capture,  are 
not  put  on  the  defensive,  with  guards  up,  as  is  too 
often  the  case  when  other  methods  are  employed. 
The  members  o»f  the  committee  may  be  impressed 
with  the  thought  that  not  so  much  by  numbers 
reached  as  by  eflPorts  made  is  the  movement  to  be 
judged.  With  these  precautions  at  the  beginning 
and  with  absence  throughout,  both  of  secrecy  and 
of  unwise  publication  of  intentions  and  results,  it  is 
certain  that  any  faithful  use  of  this  scheme  of  con- 
tinuous evangelism  will  be  as  helpful  elsewhere  as 
it  has  been  found  to  be  in  the  places  where  it  has 
been  prosecuted. 

What  is  there  against  such  an  effort  to  Chris- 
tianize the  irreligious  and  to  awaken  the  devotion  of 
Church  members  whose  condition  is  a  constant  re- 
proach ?  Let  it  not  be  said  that  this  work  is  unwise. 
Dr.  Stewart  truly  remarks,  "We  can  not  save  the 
world  by  a  committee."^  But  we  can  save  the  com- 
mittee. And  those  whom  we  can  get  into  a  body 
for  this  purpose  we  can  teach  the  principles  of 
successful  individual  work,  and  inspire  them  to  go 
2'*  The  Great  Oommisslon,"  Wentworth  F.  Stewart,  p.  66. 


Continuous  Evangelism  53 

about  it.  What  objection  then?  Is  it  that  it  is 
too  much  trouble?  But  our  own  salvation  is  at 
the  cost  of  infinite  pains.  That  there  is  not  time 
for  it  on  account  of  secular  duties  and  even  because 
of  the  many  other  Church  engagements  ?  Is  this  a 
just  excuse?  Are  we  not  wasting  more  hours  than 
this  work  requires  on  trivial  employments  and  pleas- 
ures? And  if  the  social  life  of  the  Church  or  any 
other  form  of  its  activities  prevents  a  fitting  re- 
sponse to  the  most  sacred  of  its  opportunities  and 
obligations,  ought  there  not  to  be  some  reform  in 
its  management,  or  at  least  in  the  degree  of  our  co- 
operation in  all  of  its  affairs,  lest  there  seem  to  be 
justification  for  the  somewhat  pessimistic  utterances 
with  which  a  few  years  since  a  prominent  English 
preacher  and  lecturer  bombarded  us  on  closing  an 
engagement  in  this  country  and  leaving  for  his 
own  land. 

"The  American  Church,"  said  he,  "does  not 
seem  to  be  much  more  than  a  social  organization 
now.  Its  members  spend  more  time  developing 
along  social  lines  than  they  do  along  spiritual  lines. 
The  old  fire  and  the  old-time  spirit  are  lacking."^ 
There  is  a  reply  which  might  be  made  to  such 
sweeping  statements,  aside  from  the  suggestion  that 
travelers  rarely  come  in  intimate  enough  contact 
with  the  land  they  visit  to  judge  of  its  inner  and 

3G.  Campbell  Morgan,  D.  D.,  as  reported. 


54  Every-Day  Evangelism 

real  spirit,  and  that  foreign  speakers  are  usually 
not  heard  by  the  more  spiritual  and  aggressive 
congregations.  Nevertheless,  it  would  be  idle  to 
deny  the  fact  that  there  is  need  in  the  American 
Church,  and  we  doubt  not  in  the  Church  Universal, 
of  less  social  life  for  its  own  sake,  and  of  more  for 
the  sake  of  winning  souls,  and  in  general  there 
should  be  a  revival  of  the  conviction  that  the 
supreme  work  of  Christianity  is  to  save  the  world, 
and  that  no  Church  deserves  praise  or  justifies  its 
cost  in  coin  and  care  which  is  not  engaged  in  this 
great  business.  And  the  ideal  for  every  company 
of  Christians  should  be  the  Model  Church  of  the 
apostolic  period,  which,  though  we  know  that  it 
was  by  no  means  faultless,  nevertheless  as  to  its  zeal 
and  success  was  truly  described  by  Dr.  T.  L.  Cuyler 
in  these  words :  "They  did  not  need  to  be  revived, 
for  they  kept  up  to  blood-heat  all  the  while.  Con- 
versions took  place  daily.  In  the  family  record  of 
that  Church  the  column  of  'births'  was  better  filled 
than  the  columns  of  'desertions,'  or  of  'deaths.' " 
"We  do  n't  wonder,"  is  the  comment,  "that  such 
wide-awake  Christians  praised  God  and  found 
favor  with  all  the  people.  The  Holy  Spirit  has  not 
changed;  human  nature  has  not  changed;  the 
promises  have  not  changed,  and  now,  in  the  name  of 
common  sense,  we  ask,  why  should  there  not  be 


Continuous  Evangelism  55 

thousands  of  just  such  Churches  as  that  all  over 
this  country?"  Why,  indeed?  Simply  that  our 
minds  are  too  much  engrossed  with  material  pur- 
suits ;  we  are  absorbed  in  the  thought  of  the  treas- 
ures and  pleasures  of  time  and  sense ;  we  are  giving 
but  half-hearted  recognition,  and  but  a  fraction  of 
our  energies  to  the  acquisition  of  eternal  profits 
and  to  the  joyful  service  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ. 
It  has  been  said  that  primitive  and  apostolic 
Christianity  was  an  oifense  to  an  indifferent  age. 
Very  likely  it  would  be  so  to  many  communities  in 
the  present  age,  yet  it  could  not  be  ignored  and 
would  win  its  way  now  as  certainly  as  in  each  age 
and  place  where  it  has  been  known.  It  is  not  to 
any  servile  copying  of  forms  or  imitation  of  spirit 
the  need  points.  It  is  life  which  is  wanted,  and  the 
drum-beat  of  advance.  The  spirit  which  makes  the 
Church  powerful  is  the  same  throughout  all  ages, 
and  it  impels  to  progress.  And  unless  there  be  ad- 
vancement there  is  death.  "The  array  that  remains 
in  the  trenches  is  beaten,"  says  a  military  expert, 
and  this  is  certainly  true  of  the  Church  of  Christ. 
It  must  do  or  die.  It  must  go  forward  or  its  sol- 
diers become  weak  and  cowardly.  But  if  the  charge 
be  sounded  and  the  conflict  pressed,  the  God  of 
battles  may  be  relied  upon  to  give  the  victory  and 
to  multiply  the  spoils. 


CHAPTER  IV 

ORGANIZATION  FOR  PERSONAL 
WORK 

The  plan  before  us  is  really  a  proposition  to 
organize,  train,  and  use  in  each  Church  a  corps  of 
personal  workers  whose  business  it  shall  be  to  in- 
crease, by  conversion,  the  number  of  members,  and 
so  far  as  possible  to  strengthen  in  character  and  in 
good  works  the  whole  fellowship. 

The  word  organization  is  often  the  signal  for 
an  outburst  of  invective  against  Church  machinery 
and  formalism.  The  thought  which  inspires  this 
protest  is  not  always,  but  may  be,  simply  an  ostrich- 
refuge  of  laziness  or  inefficiency.  Nothing  hap- 
pens without  organization.  The  very  air  we 
breathe  is  a  product  of  combined  gases,  whose  mar- 
shaled atoms  are  harnessed  by  the  sun,  driven  by 
the  winds,  and  perfumed  by  the  flowers  of  every 
clime.  Light,  heat,  and  electricity  are  products  of 
organization,  and  so  is  society  and  man  himself. 
All  the  great  undertakings  of  the  human  mind,  our 
56 


Personal  Work  57 

philosophies,  sciences,  arts,  even  our  religion,  are 
fruits  of  the  instinct  which  seeks  not  simply  ele- 
ments, but  relationships  and  their  effects.  Not  to 
organize  is  not  to  do  anything ;  in  business,  in  gov- 
ernment, or  in  the  Church.  As  a  rule,  the  better 
organization,  the  greater  if  not  the  better  product. 
Many  a  Church  is  decaying  while  its  daily  prayer 
is  for  strength.  There  is  power  a  plenty,  but  we 
poorly  apply  it.  We  make  steam-engines  so  imper- 
fectly that  at  best  they  use  but  three  per  cent  of 
the  energy  which  is  locked  up  in  coal.  Not  ten 
per  cent  of  electrical  power  is  applied  to  the  world's 
work  by  our  best  devices.  And  as  to  the  potency  of 
Church  memberships,  not  onejper  cent  is  being  made 
active  through  the  ordinary  channels  of  efficiency. 
What,  then,  may  not  be  said  of  the  infinite  energy 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  awaiting  the  hour  of  a  more 
complete  consecration  of  human  possessions  and 
agencies  to  work  miracles  of  grace  beyond  our 
present  dreams?  Useless  organizations  are,  of 
course,  to  be  condemned;  and  should  be  destroyed, 
especially  if  they  threaten  the  whole  body  with 
appendicitis.  But  it  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that 
the  presence  in  a  Church  of  several  half-dead  or- 
ganizations is  proof  that  no  new  or  more  perfect 
relation  of  individuals  and  forces  is  needed.  It  is 
likely  that  the  very  thing  required  in  order  to 


58  Every-Day  Evangeusm 

new  life  in  all  parts  of  the  work,  is  a  combination 
of  members,  however  few  at  the  start,  for  tlie  real 
business  of  Christianity,  praying,  preaching,  and 
loving  others  into  that  knowledge  which  is  life 
eternal. 

Having  considerable  material  to  work  with,  I 
have  used  from  seventy-five  to  one  hundred  as  the 
number  of  workers  in  the  membership  department. 
A  larger  number  could  be  employed,  and  as  it  has 
often  been  suggested,  the  same  kind  of  work  may 
be  done  by  ten  persons  or  by  two.  Two  methods 
of  selection  have  been  tried.  The  pastor  has  chosen 
the  whole  committee,  in  part,  with  reference  to 
fitness  for  such  work,  and  also  with  a  view  to  the 
representation  of  all  ages  and  Church  departments, 
not  forgetting  the  development  of  new  material. 
Another  way  was  to  request  the  heads  of  the  various 
boards  and  societies  of  the  Church  to  name  a  num- 
ber of  their  members  for  this  movement,  taking 
care  to  divide  up  a  large  enough  total  between  the 
various  organizations,  so  that  after  duplicate  names 
were  eliminated  the  desired  number  would  result. 
Both  plans  worked  well.  Probably  the  last-named 
may,  by  some,  be  thought  more  advisable  as  secur- 
ing the  interest  of  the  societies  represented,  and 
perhaps,  also,  as  relieving  the  pastor  of  the  respon- 
sibility of  making  a  choice,  but  experience  may  lead 


Personal  Work  59 

to  the  former  method  as  insuring  better  quality  and 
faithfulness.  At  least  at  first  a  definite  number  is 
better  than  an  indefinite  number,  and  general  invi- 
tations to  co-operate  do  not  compare  either  for  total 
secured  or  for  quality  with  the  results  of  selection. 
A  little  honor  implied  in  the  appointment  will  not 
necessarily  injure  the  spirit  of  interest  in  the  enter- 
prise or  vitiate  its  higher  motives.  The  consent  of 
each  member  to  serve  should  certainly  be  obtained. 
Willingness  to  co-operate  may  be  further  tested  and 
confirmed  by  a  letter  setting  forth  the  nature  of  the 
movement,  and  requesting  a  reply  in  form. 

In  order  to  save  time,  the  whole  committee 
should  be  divided  into  smaller  groups  before  the 
general  meeting  is  called.  Indeed,  the  best  practice 
is  to  have  all  details  of  organization  wrought  out 
in  advance,  and  thus  the  actual  work  can  begin  with 
the  very  first  meeting.  If  the  members  chosen  are 
of  the  right  type,  they  will  be  glad  to  be  relieved 
of  the  usual  operations  attendant  upon  the  launch- 
ing of  new  movements,  and  will  be  pleased  to  accept 
the  whole  scheme,  including  the  naming  of  officers 
and  leaders  as  a  matter  of  pastoral  appointment, 
thus  getting  to  the  business  in  hand  with  no  loss  of 
time  or  strength. 

Groups  of  ten  have  worked  quite  satisfactorily, 
but  the  chief  difficulty  has  been  to  get  the  many 


60  Every-Day  Evangelism 

leaders  thus  required  for  a  large  department,  and 
to  have  all  of  them  persons  able  to  grasp  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  undertaking  and  to  apply  them  in- 
telligently. It  is  better  to  have  a  few  groups  well- 
officered  by  those  whose  wisdom,  consecration,  and 
constant  fidelity  to  all  duties  and  meetings  is 
assured.  It  is  poor  policy,  unless  unavoidable,  to 
permit  groups  to  choose  their  own  leader.  Better 
build  the  organization  about  the  leaders,  than  the 
leaders  out  of  the  organization.  After  trying, 
during  successive  seasons,  various  group  plans  and 
types  of  management,  the  following  has  proved 
emimently  satisfactory : 

Officers. 
President,  Vice-President,  Secretary,  Treasurer. 

Groups. 

Four  groups  of  twenty  or  more  members  each. 
Of  course,  smaller  groups  will  be  used  in  Churches 
where  material  is  not  abundant.  All  groups  are 
supposed  to  interest  themselves  in  personal  work 
generally,  and  each  group  has  special  work  as- 
signed to  its  care,  in  which,  as  may  easily  be  seen, 
various  talents  and  degrees  of  preparation  to  serve 
may  be  utilized. 


Personal  Work  61 

Geoup  I. 
Special  WorJc. 

Personal  work  with  strangers. 

Invitation  to  Church  services. 

Securing  Church  letters. 

Increasing  numbers  at  and  influence  of  prayer 
and  class-meetings. 

Group  II. 
Special  WorJc. 

Getting     Sunday-school     members     into     the 
Church. 

Personal  work  with  parents  of  Sunday-school 
children. 

Visiting  those  who  join  on  profession  of  faith, 
and  encouraging  them. 

Securing  candidates  for  baptism. 

Geoup  III. 
Special  Work, 

Personal  work  with  inmates  of  hospitals  and 
other  institutions. 

Circulating  Christian  literature. 

Visiting  sick  members  of  the  Church. 

Writing   letters   of   encouragement   and    sym- 
pathy. 

Securing  new  members  for  the  Sunday-school. 


62  Every-Day  Evangelism 

Group  IV. 
Special  Work, 

Visitation  of  new  members. 

Social  welcome  to  Church  attendants. 

Enlisting  members  in  active  work. 

Personal  work  with  careless  and  back-slidden 
members. 

Improvements  may  easily  be  made  in  all  of  the 
arrangements  above  proposed,  and  suggestions 
from  all  sides  should  be  welcomed.  The  better 
thought  out,  the  better  wrought  out  is  every  un- 
dertaking. 

At  the  monthly  meetings  all  the  groups  com- 
bine. In  Churches  of  busy  people,  especially  in 
down-town  Churches,  it  is  well  to  have  a  simple 
supper  together  at  6  or  6 :30  o'clock,  and  to  follow 
at  once  with  the  business,  closing  by  eight  or  a  little 
later.  The  expense  may  be  met  by  a  voluntary  col- 
lection, supplemented,  if  necessary,  by  the  subscrip- 
tions of  a  few  who  are  well  able  and  very  willing 
to  make  them.  When  the  meeting  begins,  first  comes 
prayer ;  as  has  been  suggested,  not  a  formal  prayer, 
but  a  short  season  of  earnest  recognition  of  the 
leadership  of  the  Spirit,  and  of  supplication  for  the 
wisdom  which  cometh  from  above.  Then,  perhaps, 
half  of  the  time  will  be  occupied  with  the  lecture 


Personal  Work  63 

or  study  of  the  theme  of  personal  work,  given  by 
the  pastor  or  by  a  person  selected  by  him.  Bibles 
will,  of  course,  be  at  hand,  and  tablets  and  pencils 
should  be  provided  so  that  when  it  would  be  valu- 
able to  do  so,  all  present  may  take  and  preserve 
notes.  After  the  address,  which  should  always  be 
both  inspirational  and  practical,  with  many  hints 
of  method,  brief  reports  may  be  read  or  delivered 
verbally  by  the  group  leaders.  As  far  as  possible, 
written  reports  should  be  the  rule,  so  that  records 
may  be  preserved  and  the  accounts  of  work  made 
definite.  Some  part  of  the  time  will  be  used,  as 
thought  wise,  in  introducing  and  managing 
schemes  of  practical  work. 

While  it  is  the  determination  to  reach  unsaved 
persons,  not  a  little  attention  should  be  paid  by  the 
workers  to  the  gathering  in  of  old  Church  letters. 
It  is  often  a  greater  benefit  to  the  communify  to 
reach  a  half  or  wholly  back-slidden  Church  member, 
getting  him  again  into  communion,  than  to  secure 
a  new  convert.  Nothing  retards  the  cause  of 
Christ  more  effectually  than  irreligion,  cynicism,  or 
even  evident  neglect  of  duty  on  the  part  of  those 
who  are  known  to  have  once  been  active  in  Chris- 
tian professions  and  services.  This  class  constitutes 
a  standing  reproach  to  Christianity,  and  with  some 
it  is  an  argument  against  its  value  and  power.    By 


64  Every-Day  Evangelism 

all  means,  therefore,  it  should  be  held  to  be  a  profit- 
able undertaking  to  seek  out  and  to  draw  back  into 
Church  fellowship  those  who  have  drifted  away. 

In  order  that  no  part  of  the  above  outline  of 
procedure  in  the  general  meeting  may  be  forgotten, 
the  president  of  the  department  has  in  his  hand  the 
following  order  of  exercises,  which  is  conducted 
after  the  supper  and  free-will  collection: 

Ordee. 

I.     Hymn,  all  standing. 
II.     Short    prayers,    members    standing    or 

kneeling. 
III.     Roll  call. 

IV.     Minutes,  with  brief  review  of  address 
and  reports   given  at  last  meeting. 
V.     Instruction  period. 
VI.     Reports  of  Group  leaders. 
VII.     Business — 

Treasurer's  Report. 
Suggestions,  or  Question  Box. 
Vote  of  thanks  to  those  arranging 
for  supper. 
VIII.     Prayer. 
IX.     Hymn. 
X.     Adjournment,  followed  by  brief  group 
meetings. 


Personal  Work  65 

It  will  be  well  to  take  considerable  pains  with 
the  selection  and  training  of  the  leaders  of  the  com- 
mittee and  of  the  groups.  If  they  are  deeply- 
spiritual,  and  at  the  same  time  able  and  popular, 
they  will  create  much  enthusiasm.  It  may  be 
thought  wise  to  use  assistant  pastors,  deaconesses, 
elders,  and  deacons,  local  preachers,  and  class  lead- 
ers for  these  positions.  This  is  very  well,  if  they 
happen  to  be  the  right  persons.  If  not,  they 
should  not  be  chosen.  Indeed,  it  is  probably  better 
from  the  start  to  confine  leadership  to  no  class  of 
officials,  but  to  select  those  specially  adapted.  It 
is  desirable  that  the  pastor  should  sometimes  call 
the  leaders  together,  question  them  about  their  as- 
sociates, their  plans,  and  the  difficulties  met,  and 
kindred  matters,  both  requesting  suggestions  and 
making  them  freely.  There  will  be  no  need  of 
reticence  in  this  small  circle,  and  much  good  will 
result  from  the  plain  discussion  of  causes  of  success 
and  of  failure.  In  large  Churches  it  would  prob- 
ably be  as  well,  from  year  to  year,  to  change  lead- 
ers, that  as  many  as  possible  may  receive  the 
benefit  of  the  responsibility  and  experience  involved 
in  the  position.  Books  may  be  placed  in  the  hands 
of  leaders,  which  all  members  of  the  committee 
would  not  purchase  or  take  the  trouble  to  read.  No 
effort  or  expense  should  be  spared  by  which  some,  at 
5 


66  Every-Day  Evangelism 

least,  of  the  Church,  may  become  educated  and 
expert  leaders  of  personal  work. 

It  will,  of  course,  be  the  aim  to  get  as  large  a 
iiumber  of  the  members  of  the  department  as  pos- 
sible to  commit  themselves  to  a  life  service  of  the 
kind  taught,  so  that  as  successive  companies  pass 
through  the  training  they  will  go  out  to  recruit  an 
army  of  disciplined  individual  evangelists,  who 
will  carry  the  work  to  other  places  and  into  the 
years. 

In  order  to  keep  up  esprit  de  corps,  the  pastor 
should,  sometimes,  formally  review  the  work  under- 
taken and  accomplished,  being  careful  to  give  credit 
where  it  is  due,  and  encouraging  the  weakest  mem- 
bers to  believe  that  their  labors  have  not  been  in 
vain.  An  earnest  outsider  may  often  be  brought 
into  the  meeting,  to  listen  to  the  proceedings,  and, 
becoming  enthused,  to  make  a  brief  address  of  con- 
gratulation and  good  cheer.  To  any  convention 
which  gives  promise  of  dealing  helpfully  with  the 
topic  of  evangelism,  delegates  may  be  sent  to  bring 
back  good  thoughts,  or  if  nothing  new  or  useful  is 
said,  to  report  that  the  local  workers  are  up  to  the 
best  instructions  which  have  been  given.  If  good 
articles  on  the  subject  of  personal  work  appear  in 
Church  papers,  the  attention  of  the  committee 
should  be  called  to  these,  or,  better  still,  an  excep- 


Personal  Work  67 

tionally  able  or  spiritual  treatment  of  this  theme 
may  be  read  to  the  committee,  at  least  in  part.  Very 
occasionally  some  paragraph  or  section  from  one  of 
the  books  elsewhere  referred  to  may  be  introduced 
in  the  instructions  given,  but  it  should  be  remem- 
bered that  a  majority  of  people  do  not  care  to  listen 
to  reading  unless  the  material  be  very  much  to  the 
point,  bright  and  brief. 

The  membership  department  offers  a  splendid 
nucleus  for  the  promotion  of  revival  enterprises,  or 
for  planning  the  conservation  of  results  of  such 
undertakings  originating  elsewhere.  I  have  used 
such  workers  in  meeting  the  responsibilities  and 
opportunities  of  two  general  campaigns;  one  con- 
ducted by  Dr.  Chapman  and  the  other  by  Dr. 
Torrey.  In  each  case  no  Church,  not  in  some  way 
similarly  organized  to  secure  them,  received  into 
membership  anything  like  as  many  of  the  persons 
influenced.  There  was  a  warm  spirit,  a  ready  visi- 
tation of  new  people,  and  a  hearty  welcome  which 
proved  to  be  very  attractive.  The  committee  was 
also  in  training  to  help  make  permanent  the  hold 
obtained  upon  the  new  members. 

It  is  easy  to  see  how  this  organization  may  be 
used  in  the  Sunday  night  service,  and  at  any  time 
when  the  pastor  is  making  a  special  effort  to  reach 
his    unsaved    hearers    with   the    gospel    invitation. 


68  Every-Day  Evangelism 

Where  this  work  is  extended  for  a  considerable 
period,  the  committee  may  be  called  out,  for  ex- 
ample, a  fourth  or  a  half  at  a  time.  The  workers 
may  be  placed  in  special  seats,  armed  with  cards  of 
declaration  of  faith.  When  asked  to  do  so,  they 
may  distribute  these,  pencils  also  being  given,  if  not 
already  in  the  seats.  The  workers  may  be  directed 
to  take  note  of  any  persons  who  arose  for  prayers, 
or  who  gave  any  other  sign  of  interest,  at  the  close 
of  the  service  speaking  with  them  and  getting  the 
name  and  address.  If  not  assigned  any  specific 
duty,  the  members  may  be  instructed  to  be  present, 
to  pray  for  the  pastor,  to  lead  any  movement  he 
may  suggest — ^testimony,  singing,  or  coming  to  the 
altar,  to  watch  for  souls ;  and  if  an  after-meeting  is 
held,  to  invite  others  to  remain.  If  by  any  method 
names  of  persons  who  need  help  have  been  gathered, 
or  if  the  pastor  has  some  new  plan  to  suggest,  it  is 
easy  to  say :  "The  company,  circle,  committee,  de- 
partment," or  whatever  name  is  used,  "will  remain 
for  a  few  moments'  consultation."  Lacking  such  a 
definite  group,  the  pastor  often  fails  to  receive  as- 
sistance when  it  is  most  needed.  Even  in  the  pres- 
ence of  a  great  opportunity,  he  has  no  one 
whom  he  can  certainly  depend  upon  to  carry  out 
the  hopeful  plan  which  may  have  been  quite  un- 
expectedly brought  to  his  mind. 


Personal  Work  69 

Two  essentials  of  the  successful  management 
of  any  organization  should  be  emphasized  before 
this  side  of  the  work  passes  from  thought :  it  should 
be  arranged  that  no  person  in  the  whole  movement 
be  without  some  definite  service  to  render,  if  it  be 
no  more  than  to  furnish  names,  or  to  carry  to  a 
specific  place  a  card  of  invitation;  and  every  care 
should  also  be  taken  that  the  importance  and  value 
to  the  work  of  each  individual  should  not  only  be 
made  known  at  the  beginning,  but  be  kept  ever 
before  the  minds  of  the  entire  membership.  If  these 
points  are  not  observed,  there  will  be  desertions 
through  loss  of  interest.  One  who  does  nothing 
cares  nothing.  He  who  is  charged  with  no  duty  is 
appointed  to  backslide.  Give  me  my  task  and  I 
will  do  it,  is  the  cry  of  each  honest  heart.  To 
persons  of  honor,  there  is  little  satisfaction  in  being 
a  figurehead,  even  in  good  company,  and  there  is 
more  noblesse  ohlige^  even  in  ordinary  minds,  than 
most  people  imagine. 

It  is  a  great  matter  to  keep  constantly  in  view 
the  truth  that  the  work  of  evangelism  is  most 
worthy  in  its  motives  and  splendid  in  its  possibili- 
ties and  achievements.  "All  true  work,"  says 
Carlyle,  "is  sacred;  in  all  true  work,  were  it  but 
true  hand  labor,  there  is  something  of  divineness." 
But  the  work  which  we  are  discussing  is  altogether 


70  Every-Day  Evangelism 

divine.  God  inspires  it,  directs  it,  does  it,  through 
those  who  are  wilhng  to  be  His  instruments.  "Life 
from  above,"  which  is  the  only  result  of  value 
coming  out  of  soul-winning  efforts,  is  the  gift  of 
God.  This  is  His  work  alone.  We  have  no  share 
in  this.  But  in  producing  the  crisis  which  leads  the 
new  believer  to  have  faith  in  this  divine  gift  and 
to  accept  it,  and  in  bringing  back  to  life  those  who 
have  been  almost  drowned  in  the  cares  and  sins  of 
the  world,  we  have  our  part,  and  this  is  a  useful 
service,  or  God  would  not  accept  it  and  make  it 
fruitful,  as  He  so  evidently  does.  And,  behold  the 
event ;  a  new  creation  of  God !  A  life,  heaven-born, 
heaven-bound;  a  whole  world  of  new  experiences 
and  joys,  a  new  career  of  profit  and  of  Christian 
service,  an  immortal  soul,  saved  to  all  that  is  richest 
and  best,  now  and  forever !  Is  not  this  worth  the 
most  costly  effort  .f*  Is  it  not  reward  enough  for 
prayer  and  painstaking?  Can  any  wonder  that 
Thomas  Guthrie  exclaimed :  "This  salvation  about 
which  many  are  so  strangely  careless,  is  the  great 
work  that  has  engaged  God  from  the  counsels  of 
eternity,  and  shall  engage  Him  to  the  end  of  time. 
And  how  should  men  labor  for  an  end  that  is  of 
such  value  in  God's  eyes !  To  be  saved  and  sancti- 
fied ourselves,  and  to  be  also  the  instruments  of 
saving  others — of  plucking  brands  from  the  burn- 


Personal  Work  71 

ing,  this  is  especially  and  emphatically  the  work  of 
the  Lord,  one  in  which  men  are  called  to  be  fellow- 
workers  with  God — the  true  business  of  their  life, 
in  which  they  are  to  abound  in  all  circumstances 
and  seasons?"  Is  it  more  than  the  truth  which 
Spurgeon  has  uttered :  "When  we  endeavor  to  lead 
men  to  God,  we  pursue  a  business  far  more  profit- 
able than  the  pearl-fishers'  diving  or  the  diamond- 
hunters'  searching.  No  pursuit  of  mortal  men  is 
to  be  compared  with  that  of  soul-winning.  I  know 
what  I  say  when  I  bid  you  think  of  it  as  men  think 
of  entering  the  cabinet  of  the  nation,  or  occupying 
a  throne;  it  is  a  royal  business  and  they  are  true 
kings  who  follow  it  successfully." 


CHAPTER  V 
PASTORAL  LEADERSHIP 

The  pastor's  place  in  evangelism  is  at  the 
center.  The  pulpit  which  he  occupies  jnaj  be jnade 
^J£S^^  ^^J^Py^J^)}^  hearts  of  men  towMd.Chn 
and  His  work.  This  is  the  great  business  of  the 
pulpit,  beside  which  all  else  it  may  do  sinks  into 
slight  and  transient  significance,  being  at  best  but 
of  temporal  value.  It^has^  alreadj  been  saidj:hat 
thejvise  preacher  will  not  unvaringly  address  to  his 
congregation  so-called  evangelistic  sermons,  but  he 
will  never  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  a  genuine  and 
competent  ministry  includes  a  definite  and  sustained 
attack  upon  the  unbelieving  and  sinful  human  will. 

"How  far  do  your  chief  American  preachers 
aim  at  the  conversion  of  souls  ?"  one  of  the  greatest 
of  modem  English  preachers  asked  a  friend  from 
across  the  ocean.  In  the  answer  to  this  question 
lies  the  minister's  success  or  failure. 

The  one  great  aim  may  be  prosecuted  in  many 
ways  and  by  many  means.     In  seeking  to  capture 
72 


Pastoral  Leadership  73 

a  fortress,  assault  may  be  tried,  but  if  it  fails  there 
are  mining,  strategy,  and  various  types  of  siege. 
In  the  last  analysis,  all  truth,  however  presented, 
is  evangelism,  and  tends  Godward,  but  in  seeking 
to  reach  and  to  transform  that  most  recondite  and 
difficult  of  citadels,  Mansoul,  he  errs  who  goes  too 
far  from  the  center  for  his  teaching. 

It  is  said  that  a  Methodist  preacher  in  Nebraska 
discoursed  to  his  people  on  "The  Power  and  Pathos 
of  Music  in  the  Realm  of  the  Human  Soul,"  using 
as  his  principal  material  memories  of  Mendelssohn. 
The  same  writer  who  announces  this,  speaks  of 
another  minister  whose  sermon  was  on  "The  Sani- 
tary Effects  of  Sleep,"  but  he  does  not  say  whether 
or  not  there  were  examples  present.  A  sermon  on 
"Public  Baths,"  preached  in  another  city,  may 
have  been  of  physical  if  not  of  spiritual  impor- 
tance. "A  Trip  to  Washington,"  "The  New 
Japan,"  and  "What  Is  Taking  Place  in  Bulgaria 
and  Turkey,"  were  other  offerings  from  the  same 
Congregational  pulpit.  A  friend  informed  me  that 
he  attended  a  Methodist  Church,  where  he  listened 
to  a  sermon  and  three  prayers,  including  the  invo- 
cation. The  name  of  Christ  was  mentioned  once 
in  the  sermon,  and  not  at  all  in  the  prayers.  The 
secretary  of  one  of  the  great  Presbyterian  Boards, 
in  an  address  before  theological  graduates,  said^ 


74  Every-Day  Evangelism 

"Some  Presbyterians  are  yielding  to  the  demand 
for  an  enriched  service,  with  such  loads  of  music 
and  millinery  as  to  crowd  the  sermon  into  an  ig- 
nominious corner."  He  also  refers  to  "the  three 
notes  of  oratory,  rationalism,  and  culture,  struck  by 
the  best  known  pulpit  in  America  for  the  past  fifty 
years."^  These  are  but  a  few  illustrations  of  drift, 
showing  how  far  from  the  direct  course  they  may 
go  who  do  not  keep  ever  before  them  the  one  great 
purpose  of  the  Christian  ministry.  Such  preachers 
are  not  leaders  of  every-day  evangelism.  There 
may  be  for  a  time  a  numerical  increase  in  their 
Churches,  occasioned  by  novelty,  by  social  induce- 
ments, or  even  by  the  very  absence  of  religious 
earnestness.  In  periods  of  laxity,  worldly  Churches 
prosper  by  accessions  from  the  stricter  denomina- 
tions and  from  the  ease-loving  public.  This  is  one 
of  the  trials  of  faith  and  of  the  courage  of  the 
faithful.  In  the  end  it  becomes  evident  that  they 
who  seek  not  the  regeneration  of  their  hearers  are 
blind  leaders  of  the  blind ;  for  themselves  and  their 
followers  the  ditch  is  not  far  off  and  it  is  deep. 

Continuous  evangelism  f ails^whereyer  its  sj^irit 
is  not  in  the  pastor.  He  is  to  lead,  strengthen,  and 
guide.     The  whole  tone  of  his  ministry  and  the 


iRev.  J.  W.  Oochran,  D.  D.,  Board  of  Education,  Philadel- 
phia, Pa. 


Pastoral  Leadership  75 

whole  tenor  of  his  preaching  must  sustain  the  effort, 
or  it  withers.  It  should  be  more  commonly  known 
than  it  is,  except  by  preachers  themselves,  that  it 
takes  more  brains  and  genius  to  be  a  gospel  and 
soul-winning  preacher  than  it  does  to  be  a  pulpit 
entertainer,  philosopher,  litterateur,  or  even  theolo- 
gian. He  has  a  very  wide  range  who  permits  him- 
self the  wisdom  of  the  world  in  a  sennon.  At  one 
time  he  may  write  a  literary  essay,  at  another  a  his- 
torical exposition,  at  another  a  poetical  rhapsody, 
at  another  a  moral  treatise,  at  another  a  rhetorical 
oration,  at  another  a  sociological  thesis.  The 
audience  is  by  turns  instructed,  amused,  or  inspired, 
and  if  the  work  is  well  done,  and  the  people  not  too 
old-fashioned,  the  result  is  admiration,  not  for 
Christ  or  for  His  law  of  righteousness,  but  for  the 
preacher.  All  this  is  very  fine,  it  is  altogether  ra- 
tional and  worldly-wise,  and  for  any  educated  per- 
son of  slight  conscientiousness  it  is  easy.  But 
to  hold  to  the  one^eme,  the  gospel  and  the^  word 
and  work  of  Christ;  to  preach  this  divine  message 
twice  a  Sundaythe  year  round,  and  year  after  year, 
andtodo_so  ydth  interest  a  is  not  easy. 

It  takes  science;  it  requires  intellect  and  heart;  it 
demands  a  man !  It  implies  more :  God  must  be  in 
this  effort  or  it  fails;  therefo:'e,  the  man  must  be 
often  upon  his  knees  and  always  works  with  his  face 


76  Every-Day  Evangelism 

heavenward.  The  pulpit  lecturer,  professor,  elocu- 
tionist, is  saved  much  hard  thought  and  anxious 
study  of  the  greatest  of  all  problems,  and  he  re- 
ceives much  praise.  But  he  saves  no  souls,  and  is  a 
parasite  on  the  labors  of  better  men. 

The  true  preacher  of  Christ  holds  such  work  in 
contempt.  He  is  engaged  in  bigger  business.  He 
must  be  an  ambassador  for  Chr^ist  and  speak  forth 
His  message.  He  must  be  a  winner  of  lives  to  the 
Christian  life,  and  to  do  this  work  he  feels  that 
by  every  means  he  must  rally  his  people.  The  great 
business  of  the  Christian  ministry  is  to  win  the 
world  to  God.  But  this  can  not  be  done  by  preach- 
ers only,  or  even  in  general  by  these  chosen  leaders 
directly.  Dr.  Forsyth  is  eminently  wise  in  saying : 
"If  a  preacher  is  to  act  on  the  world,  he  must  do 
it,  as  a  rule,  through  his  Church.  The  minister's 
first  duty  is  to  his  Church.  He  must  make  it  a 
Church  that  acts  on  the  world — through  him, 
indeed,  but  also  otherwise.  He  is  to  act  as  its  head 
and  not  in  its  stead."" 

In  an^  practical  campaign  of  the  Church  J:he 
pa^to£  inust  be  the  general^  both  planning__and 
managing  the  niovement.  To  this  work  is  he  called 
of  God,  and  if  in  earnest  he  suffers  no  man  to  dis- 
place or  to  excel  him  as  the  leader  of  his  own  people, 
2  "  Positive  Preaching  and  Modern  Mind,"  p.  78. 


Pastoral  Leadership  77 

especially  in  their  effort  to  win  souls.  He  may- 
desire  and  need  assistance,  but  if  a  professional 
evangelist  or  other  helper  is  employed,  as  should 
be  the  case  when  interest  is  great  and  the  pastor's 
strength  is  overtaxed,  he  may  not  wisely  be  crowded 
out  of  relation  to  his  own  work.  Good  evangelists 
do  not  desire  this,  but  wish  the  pastor  to  be  at  the 
very  front;  and  if  there  be  another  type  of  evan- 
gelist, the  most  vital  of  all  imdertakings  should 
never  be  surrendered  to  such  irresponsible  hands. 

How  burdened  is  the  modern  pastor !  On  every 
side  he  is  beset  with  duties,  and  he  is  loaded  down 
with  fixed  engagements.  Body  and  brain  are 
wearied  to  the  outer  limits  of  endurance,  in  a  calling 
whose  greatest  strain  is  on  the  heart.  In  proposing 
pastoral  leadership  in  a  movement  of  systematic 
personal  work,  are  we  suggesting  added  responsi- 
bilities to  be  laid  upon  an  already  overburdened 
man  ?  Perhaps  so,  but  we  are  supposing;  that  this 
work  is  the  most  important  to  which  the  (^yirch 
can  give  its  strength,  and  that  any  other  depart- 
ment might  better  be  neglected,  or  abandoned,^  if 
necessary,  for  the  sake  of  the  greatest  of_  all.  But 
may  not  another  than  the  pastor  lead,  as  in  the  case 
of  many  Church  societies?  It  may  be  said  that 
whoever  the  officers  may  be,  the  pastor  occupies  a 
leader's  relation  to  every  society.     In  all,  he  may 


78  Every-Day  Evangelism 

use  assistants,  leaving  them,  so  far  as  it  is  wise,  to 
their  own  resources.  The  able  pastor  seeks  to  lead 
by  indirection.  In  part,  he  may  divide  his  respon- 
sibility with  reference  to  membership  work,  but  in 
this  field  he  finds  difficulties  of  training  and  experi- 
ence, of  initiative,  and  of  ability  to  counsel.  There- 
fore, if  success  is  to  be  secured,  he  will  have  to 
be  the  real,  if  not  the  ostensible  head  of  the  move- 
ment. His  influence  will  be  needed  to  popularize 
the  undertaking,  and  his  constant  presence,  as  well 
as  the  skill  which  he  may  possess,  will  be  required  to 
keep  the  wheels  turning.  It  is  probably  true,  in  a 
majority  of  instances,  as  should  always  be  the  case, 
that  the  pastor  is  the  ablest  and  most  experienced 
personal  worker  in  the  Church.  His  example,  his 
wider  knowledge,  gained  from  reading  and  from 
years  of  practical  effort,  his  enthusiasm  for  the 
main  issues  of  the  Christian  life,  all  combine  to 
throw  upon  him  the  chief  responsibility. 

This  will  still  be  true,  even  if  the  time  comes, 
which  may  easily  occur,  when  the  larger  Churches 
maintain  membership  secretaries,  permanent  evan- 
gelists, who  not  only  keep  the  books,  but  who  seek 
accessions  to  the  Church  and  look  after  them  when 
secured,  making  an  expenditure  of  time  and  pa- 
tience not  possible  to  busy  pastors,  and  preventing, 
in  large  part,  the  great  losses  which  occur  by  reason 


Pastoral  Leadership  79 

of  removals  from  one  part  of  a  city  to  another,  with 
consequent  carelessness  of  Church  relations.  It 
passes  comprehension  why  the  Church  does  not 
more  adequately  increase  its  force  of  paid  workers, 
thus  keeping  pace  with  an  increasing  number  of 
adherents,  and  with  the  growing  diversity  of  its 
services  and  obligations  to  society.  Not  only  are 
high-salaried  pastors  kept  at  tasks  from  which 
ordinary  office  help  would  release  them  for  greater 
duties,  but  in  too  many  instances  the  more  Cliris- 
tian  work  of  the  Church  gets  crowded  out  alto- 
gether for  details  of  business  and  of  routine,  which 
can  not  be  left  undone. 

No  amount  of  clerk  hire  or  of  more  able  assist- 
ance would,  however,  replace  the  work  of  the  pastor 
in  reference  to  the  membership  movement.  There 
he  must  be  in  evidence,  not  only  as  helper,  but  as 
captain  of  all.  He  should  have  oversight  of  the 
personnel  of  the  department.  The  lectures  and 
addresses  on  personal  work  should  be  delivered  by 
him,  or  by  persons  whose  fitness  for  the  duty  is 
known  to  him,  and  whom  he  has  selected  and  intro- 
duced for  the  purpose.  The  reports  of  leaders 
should  come  to  him,  publicly  or  privately,  as  he 
may  from  time  to  time  request.  Receptive  as  he 
may  and  should  be  of  any  suggestions  of  methods 
to  be  employed  which  are  made  by  others,  yet  with 


80  Every-Day  Evangelism 

his  larger  leisure  to  think,  and  with  his  maturer 
experience  to  help  him  to  devise,  the  planning  will 
be  mainly  his  own.  He^should  be  friend  and  coun- 
selor to  each  worker  personally,  as  well  as  to  the 
company  as  a  whole,  making  its  members  feel  a  new 
attachment  and  devotion  to  their  pastor  as  a  fellow- 
worker.  This  nearer  relationship  will  be  his  oppor- 
tunity also,  by  suggestion  and  encitement  to  de- 
velop to  wider  uses  the  powers  of  many  of  his  more 
able  assistants.  In  his  groups  of  personal  workers 
he  wiU  be  on  the  constant  lookout,  not  only  for  new 
officers  and  leaders  in  the  local  Church,  but  for  pos- 
sible preachers,  deaconesses,  missionaries,  settlement 
workers,  association  secretaries,  and  pastoral  help- 
ers of  all  kinds.  No  treatise  is  able  to  convey,  as 
the  experience  itself  will  do,  a  complete  vision  of 
the  opportunity  of  general  helpfulness  which  is 
thus  offered  to  the  pastor  who  has  some  genius  for 
leadership,  and  a  sympathetic  nature,  and  whose 
supreme  purpose  it  is  to  make  every  deed  of  his  life 
tell  on  the  side  of  Christ. 

The  door  of  the  Christian  Church  should  be 
open  at  all  times,  and  not  as  some  humorist  has  sug- 
gested it  too  often  is,  only  in  the  "R  months."  It 
should  be  possible,  every  Lord's  Day,  for  one  de- 
siring to  do  so,  to  take  the  first  steps  looking  to- 
ward Church  membership.    Custom  varies  as  to  the 


Pastoral  Leadership  81 

way  of  approach  to  the  Church.  The  plan  is  an 
excellent  one  which  is  very  widespread  throughout 
the  West ;  At  some  period  of  each  Church  service, 
usually  before  the  singing  of  the  second  or  last 
hymn,  any  person  desiring  to  unite  with  the  Church 
is  invited  to  the  altar,  where,  at  the  fitting  moment, 
announcement  is  made  of  the  candidate's  name  and 
address  and  of  the  fact  of  his  reception.  Continu- 
ous evangelism  requires,  at  all  events,  frequent  and 
well  understood  opportunities  to  give  evidence  of 
faith  and  of  a  desire  to  enter  upon  Christian  fellow- 
ship. Announcements  of  this  kind  need  not  always 
be  dwelt  upon  at  length,  or  urged,  lest  they  lose 
force,  but  by  tone,  gesture,  and  careful  wording 
they  may  be  preserved  from  the  common  and  the 
perfunctory.  Again,  it  is  all  a  question  of  the 
spirit  of  the  pastor.  If  He  loves  men  so  much  that 
he  never  forgets  the  supreme  need  of  their  lives, 
this  will  be  evident  to  his  hearers  in  many  ways,  and 
he  will  so  invite  and  will  so  address  those  whom  he 
receives,  as  to  greatly  cheer  the  hearts  of  his  work- 
ers, while  he  is  pleasantly  introducing  the  whole 
congregation  and  the  newcomers  to  each  other. 

No  one  understands  better  than  does  the  pastor, 

that  it  is  not  enough  to  arouse  conviction  and  even 

to  secure   conversion   and   entrance   upon   Church 

membership.     One  of  the  most  valuable  parts  of 

8 


82  Every-Day  Evangelism 

continuous  evangelism  is  the  meeting  for  young 
converts,  which  should  be  begun  just  as  soon  as 
there  are  enough  persons  newly  entered  into  the 
Christian  life  to  make  it  effective.  To  this  meet- 
ing friends  of  the  new  members  may  be  invited,  and 
helpers  in  singing,  prayer,  and  counsel.  On  begin- 
ning a  pastorate,  I  was  informed  that  probationers' 
meetings  had  been  tried  many  times,  but  as  the 
Church  was  downtown  and  far  away  from  most  of 
its  people,  success  was  not  possible.  With  a  little 
preliminary  arrangement  and  advertising  through 
the  mails,  the  very  first  service  of  the  kind  was  a 
success.  Many  meetings  of  new  members  and 
friends  followed,  never  with  less  than  from  twenty- 
five  to  one  hundred  present.  If  there  were  but  six 
and  the  pastor,  however,  or  but  one,  who  would 
listen  and  profit,  it  would  be  well  worth  the  time. 
The  converts'  meeting  serves,  also,  as  a  stimulus  to 
the  forward  movement,  whose  members  are  asked  to 
pray  for  it,  to  occasionally  attend,  and  to  strive 
to  bring  there  some  friend  who  may  be  thinking  of 
entering  upon  a  Christian  life.  This  use  of  the 
service  has  been  made  very  profitable,  parents, 
Sunday-school  teachers,  and  others  coming  with 
their  charges  to  secure  for  them  instruction  and  aid, 
which  they  did  not  feel  capable  of  imparting. 

A  successful  pastor  issues  the  following  card: 


Pastoral  Leadership  83 

The  Continuous  Church 
Candidate  s  Club 

Of  the  First  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  Schenectady,  N.  Y. 

Meets  every  Tuesday  evening  at  7.30,  with  the  Pastor 
F.  W.  ADAMS.  D.  D. 

The  Church  Candidate's  Club  is  for  any  and 
every  one  interested  in  an  intelligent  and  sympa- 
thetic understanding  of  the  Kingdom  of  God. 

All  probationers  in  the  Church  are  members, 
and  as  many  others  who  will  are  invited  to  join. 

Our  aim  is  to  teach  all  things  that  a  Christian 
ought  to  know. 

Our  hope  is  to  produce  intelligent,  cultured,  and 
devout  Christian  character. 

Our  meetings  will  be  devoted  to  questions,  dis- 
cussions, study,  and  "  lecturettes "  on  vital  themes 
of  the  Christian  life.  The  following  courses  will 
be  taken  up  at  the  meetings : 

1.  Fundamentals  of  Faith  and  Doctrine. 

2.  The  Church  and  the  Kingdom. 

3.  Methodist  Doctrine  and  Polity. 

4.  Ethics. 

5.  Experience. 

A  Question  Box  will  be  opened  each  evening. 


84  Every-Day  Evangelism 

In  most  instances  it  would  probably  be  found 
unwise  to  hold,  at  least  the  year  round,  a  weekly 
meeting  of  such  a  character.  The  monthly  meet- 
ing, however,  can  be  maintained  almost  or  quite 
continuously,  and  a  weekly  service  conducted  for 
needed  periods  of  time.  The  emphatic  jhough^js 
that  at  proper  times,  and  as  often  as  possible,  meet- 
ings  of  this  nature  should  occur  in  every  Church, 
lest  there  come  to  be  a  membership  uninstructed 
and  ignorant  of  the  simplest  and  most  necessary 
facts  of  Christian  faith  and  duty. 

There  will  be  times  in  the  work  of  a  member- 
ship department  when  there  is  no  apparent  prog- 
ress, or  perhaps  there  is  a  temporary  falling  away. 
Then  the  good  leader  is  stronger  than  ever.  He  is 
fuU  of  courage  and  hopefulness,  his  zeal  is  in- 
vincible, his  counsels  are  reassuring.  He  redoubles 
his  own  efforts  to  bring  in  cheering  results,  re- 
kindling the  faith  of  any  who  are  disposed  to  be 
discouraged.  He  points  to  the  good  work  of  the 
past,  and  exalts  the  merit  of  faithfulness,  declar- 
ing its  promise  of  unfailing  reward.  Without  him 
at  this  period  the  whole  movement  would  disinte- 
grate and  cease  to  be ;  but  he  holds  firm,  keeps  his 
face  to  the  front,  and  success  comes  back  again  in 
greater  and  more  gratifying  measure  than  ever. 

It   is    steady    and    untiring   leadership    which 


Pastoral  Leadership  85 

counts  in  all  work  of  the  Church.  Some  pastors  are 
very  ardent  in  their  labors  and  influence  during  the 
first  year  in  a  new  location,  but  afterward  they 
do  not  have  the  same  spirit.  People  wonder  at  this, 
and  become  indifferent  or  distressed.  Other  pastors 
allow  long  periods  to  pass  without  showing  any 
deep  concern  about  conversions  and  accessions. 
When,  at  last,  they  are  persuaded  that  it  is  time 
for  reaping,  and  bestir  themselves,  their  followers 
are  only  mildly  interested,  thinking,  Why  this  sud- 
den heat.''  expecting  it  to  soon  pass  without  any 
need  on  their  part  to  be  disturbed  over  the  matter. 
It  should  be  the  knowledge  and  conviction  of  the 
Church  that  the  pastor  is  always  alive  to  the  condi- 
tion of  the  unsaved,  and  always  eager  to  increase, 
not  only  the  membership,  but  the  spirituality  and 
zeal  of  the  people  to  whom  he  ministers.  No  doubt 
the  Church  does  know  this  and  believe  it,  when  it 
is  true;  certainly  the  more  spiritual  members  are 
never  deceived  on  the  point,  and  their  conviction 
will  not  be  based  upon  or  maintained  by  constant 
protestations  on  his  part.  The  truth  is  manifested, 
and,  correctly,  by  many  infallible  signs.  How 
stands  the  case  with  thy  soul,  O  minister  and  shep- 
herd.'* Art  with  him  who  cries  in  loving  earnest- 
ness, "I  am  made  all  things  to  all  men,  if  I  might, 
by  all  means,  save  some.'*"     Hast  His  mind,  who 


86  Every-Day  Evangelism 

announced  His  mission  in  the  words,  "I  am  come 
to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  was  lost?" 

Wide  acquaintance  with  active  preachers  w^ill 
lead  any  one  to  believe  that  most  modern  ministers 
of  the  gospel  are  sincere  men  of  God ;  not  working 
merely  for  a  piece  of  bread;  not  time-servers  save 
as  the  way  of  wisdom  may  be  misunderstood; 
usually  far  more  in  earnest  and  making  far  greater 
sacrifices  for  Christ's  sake  than  are  other  Chris- 
tians. Hard  words  are  spoken  of  them  often. 
Sweeping  criticisims  are  hurled  at  their  heads.  In 
one  of  the  greatest  American  cities,  where  there  are 
many  godly  and  able  clergymen,  it  was  a  pro- 
fessedly Christian  paper  which  said,  "When  the 
preachers  of  various  denominations  unite  for  their 
annual  excursion  upon  the  'Whaleback'  steamer,  if 
it  should  go  to  the  bottom  with  all  on  board,  it 
would  then  be  possible  to  have  a  great  revival." 
No  less  a  paper  than  the  Saturday  Evening  Post, 
with  approval,  represented  a  young  man  as  saying, 
"Have  the  clergymen  forgotten  that  their  business 
is  with  my  soul?  Was  there  not  once  a  Man  who 
came  to  help  it?  Why  do  they  so  seldom  speak  of 
Him?"  These  are  coarser  examples  of  the  undis- 
criminating  and  therefore  untrue  statements,  which, 
unfortunately,  are  but  too  frequently  heard  or 
read.     There  are  ministers  of  the  gospel  who  have 


Pastoral  Leadership  87 

no  concern  for  souls ;  there  are  others  who  have  not 
the  courage  or  energy  to  do  the  work  which  they 
wish  were  done;  but  the  vast  majority  are  loving 
and  true  men,  who  sorrow  for  the  sins  of  their  day, 
and  give  themselves  more  stripes  than  they  deserve 
for  any  failures  of  their  ministry.  They  long  and 
pray  for  the  redemption  of  their  fellow-men,  and 
for  their  enrollment  among  Christian  workers. 
They  seek  light  and  adopt  gladly  helpful  sugges- 
tions. They  deeply  desire  the  hearty  co-operation 
and  the  constant  increase  of  their  Churches.  See- 
ing a  way  of  realizing  these  ends,  they  willingly 
enlarge  their  own  responsibilities,  and  seek  to 
strengthen  the  work  committed  to  their  hands.  If 
a  general  criticism  may  justly  be  made,  it  is  that 
they  undertake  too  much  themselves,  and  do  not 
sufficiently  credit  their  parishioners  with  the  desire 
to  serve,  and  patiently  teach  them  how  to  do  their 
part. 

The  idea  obtains  among  some  of  the  younger 
men  of  the  ministry  that  if  one  gives  his  time  and 
strength  to  pastoral  labors  and  to  the  prosecution 
and  encouragement  of  individual  work  for  individ- 
uals, he  will  never  be  a  great  preacher.  Who  is  the 
great  preacher  .^^  Certainly  not  the  Sunday  lec- 
turer, and  week  day  recluse  or  bon  vivant.  At 
least  if  Christ  attended  his  Church  and  met  him 


88  Every-Day  Evangelism 

in  daily  life,  He  would  not  call  him  such.  St.  Paul's 
estimate  of  him  would  not  be  pleasing.  Augustine, 
Chrysostom,  Bernard,  St.  Francis,  Martin  Luther, 
John  Knox,  Wesley,  Whitefield,  Edwards,  Thomas 
Guthrie,  would  rate  him  very  low  in  the  ranks  who 
was  not  preaching,  laboring,  and  inspiring  others 
with  the  supreme  object  of  winning  souls.  And 
are  not  these  and  men  of  their  spirit  the  great 
preachers  of  all  time?  In  recent  days  also  the 
leaders,  measured  by  Scriptural  standards  and  by 
their  grip  upon  the  hearts  of  the  people,  have  been 
of  this  type.  What  names  are  more  distinguished 
or  suggest  better  ideals  for  the  young  preacher 
than  those  of  Spurgeon,  Parker,  Robertson,  John 
Hall,  Phillips  Brooks,  A.  J.  Gordon,  T.  L.  Cuyler, 
Bishops  McCabe  and  Joyce,  Dr.  J.  O.  Peck,  and 
many  others,  who  have  been  soul-winners  as  well 
as  magnetic  and  intellectual  expounders  of  the 
Word  of  God?  Men  of  the  same  noble  order  are 
now  workers  in  various  pulpits  and  ecclesiastical 
offices,  some  of  whose  names  appear  elsewhere  in  this 
book.  They  put  to  shame  those  who  are  preaching 
for  the  times,  and  living  like  the  men  of  the  world. 
These  are  God's  prophets,  and  faithful  shepherds 
of  the  flock  of  Christ. 


CHAPTER  VI 
INSTRUCTION  OF  WORKERS 

What  is  to  be  done?  Is  it  not  the  first  duty 
to  bring  the  lives  of  men  into  contact  and  com- 
munion with  the  life  of  Christ? 

The  evangelistic  act  has  been  well  stated  by 
Principal  Forsyth*/  "We  must  set  the  actual  con- 
straining Christ  before  people,  and  not  coax  or  bully 
people  into  decision."  This  being  true,  at  the  outset 
of  his  instruction  to  workers  the  pastor  will  em- 
phasize the  supreme  need  of  knowing  Christ,  not 
merely  as  a  historical  or  theological  person,  but  as 
a  living  Redeemer  and  the  Creator  of  a  new  faith, 
new  life,  new  world,  new  career,  in  the  case  of  all 
who  surrender  themselves  to  Him.  There  will  not 
be  time  for  much  doctrinal  teaching,  but  enough 
should  be  said  to  make  it  clear  to  the  dullest  mind 
that  the  object  of  the  whole  movement  is  not  to 
get  people  to  give  formal  assent  to  the  teachings 
of  the  Church  or  even  of  the  Scriptures,  but  to  so 

1"  Positive  Preaching  and  Modern  Mind/'.Forsyth,  p.  (57. 
89 


90  Every-Day  Evangelism 

set  forth  Jesus  Christ  that  they  who  see  Him  may 
desire  Him,  and  permit  Him  to  implant  His  life 
in  their  hearts.  It  should  be  known  of  all  that  the 
right  work  is  not  done  until  the  subject  of  it  is 
brought  to  the  position  where  he  might  properly 
adopt  as  his  own  the  language  of  the  apostle,  "It 
is  no  longer  I  that  live,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me." 
This  is  essential,  for  to  quote  another  able  saying,' 
"To  receive  life  eternal,  not  the  forgiveness  of 
sins,  is  the  climax  point  to  which  the  soul  has  to 
be  led."  In  order  to  bring  this  about,  it  should 
be  made  evident  to  those  who  are  led  to  realize  and 
to  desire  the  gift  of  life  in  Christ,  that  only  one 
thing  stands  in  the  way — sin — the  guilt  and  power 
of  which  are  removed  by  the  death  of  Christ  and 
by  the  life  of  Christ  received  through  faith.  These 
great  truths  should  be  simply  but  forcefully  placed 
before  the  personal  worker  that  he  may  understand 
just  what  it  is  he  is  to  seek  to  bring  to  pass.  But, 
of  course,  no  instruction  will  be  able  to  equip  him 
for  this  undertaking  unless  it  is  related  to  his  own 
actual  experience  of  what  is  taught.  A  little  earnest 
emphasis  upon  this  truth  before  a  large  commit- 
tee will,  perhaps,  bring  to  the  pastor's  study  mem- 
bers of  his  working  force  itself,  who  will  confess 

2 By  Rev.  George  Soltau,  In  address  on  "The  Crisis  Fact  in 
Oonverslon." 


Instruction  of  Workers  91 

to  him,  "I  fear  that  I  have  not  personal  knowl- 
edge of  this  matter."  Thus  to  the  leader  will  be 
given  opportunity  to  explain  more  fully  and  ef- 
fectively the  way  of  life,  with  the  result  that  the 
first  fruits  of  the  movement  are  come  from  the  com- 
mittee itself.  There  are  not  a  few  Church  members 
of  the  best  moral  character  and  sincerity  who  have 
no  personal  Christian  experience.  They  are  re- 
ligious, but  from  an  influence  born  of  their  environ- 
ment ;  from  about  them,  and  not  from  above.  How 
great  is  the  need  of  an  evangelism  within  the 
Church.  True  as  is  the  saying,  "The  first  need  of 
a  better  world  is  a  holier  Church,"  it  may,  with 
equal  truth,  be  said  that  the  first  need  of  a  holier 
Church  is  a  regenerated  membership. 

For  those  who  have  been  brought  to  understand 
just  what  life  winning  really  is,  the  Scriptures  will 
be  the  great  source  of  wisdom.  This  repository  of 
examples  and  methods  will  be  the  text-book  and 
authority  to  which  the  leader  will  constantly  refer. 
If  he  desires  to  use  them  in  this  way,  he  will  find 
enough  Biblical  texts  and  examples  to  furnish 
training  for  years.  Some  will  prefer,  however,  to 
handle  the  theme  topically,  using  the  Scriptures  for 
illustrations  or  authority.  Whether  the  one  plan 
or  the  other  be  adopted,  there  should  be  much  prac- 
tical instruction  in  the  art  of  so  expressing  truth 


92  Every-Day  Evangelism 

that  it  will  be  attractive  and  influential,  and  in  the 
best  ways  of  approaching  persons  of  various  types 
of  mind  and  of  nature.  There  will  also  be  some  in- 
spiration and  encouragement  of  those  who  feel  that 
they  have  not  strength  to  do  the  tasks  suggested, 
or  who,  having  essayed  to  do  personal  work,  and 
finding  themselves  apparently  ignored  or  rebuffed, 
are  easily  disheartened.  As  this  will  be  one  of  the 
great  difficulties  of  the  whole  adventure,  it  should 
be  discounted  from  the  beginning.  Forewarned 
may  not  be  forearmed,  but  at  least  it  is  undeceived 
concerning  some  of  the  trials  of  faith  and  courage 
which  may  arise.  And  if  nothing  very  troublesome 
does  come,  or  if  expecting  it  one  has  made  the 
preparation  through  prayer  which  enables  him  to 
overcome,  there  is  so  much  the  more  satisfaction. 

A  very  helpful  part  in  the  instruction  of  per- 
sonal workers  is  the  narration  of  instances  which 
have  come  within  one's  own  knowledge,  or  which 
have  been  drawn  from  the  experience  of  others. 
Believing  that  they  will  be  useful  to  some  teachers, 
a  chapter  of  condensed  illustrations  has  been  in- 
serted in  this  book.  Those  pastors  who  have  done 
years  of  personal  work  will  have  at  ready  command 
a  host  of  examples  of  the  principles  which  they  are 
seeking  to  establish  in  the  minds  of  their  helpers. 

To  most  teachers  it  is  needless  to  suggest  that 


Instruction  of  Workers  93 

repetition  of  the  same  account  is  to  be  avoided,  as 
well  as  unnecessary  details  or  lengthy  digressions. 
The  case  quickly  outlined,  with  emphasis  carefully 
placed  upon  the  thought  represented,  best  im- 
presses the  memory  and  becomes  the  appropriated 
knowledge  of  the  hearer.  Experienced  workers  in 
the  committee  will  be  glad  to  be  called  on  from 
time  to  time  to  recount  briefly  a  success  or  failure 
of  their  own.  Other  pastors  or  friends  of  the 
movement  may  also  be  brought  in  occasionally  for 
the  same  good  service.  Probably  it  will  not  be 
found  wise  to  have,  in  the  general  meeting,  state- 
ments of  local  work  done  by  members,  with  sug- 
gestions from  the  leaders  and  others.  This  might 
give  occasion  for  undesirable  personalities,  reports 
being  made  which  would  be  really  harmful.  Such 
instruction  would  come  better  in  the  pastor's  study 
or  between  leaders  and  members  of  the  small 
groups. 

A  part  of  the  culture  of  the  committee  will  be 
the  recommendation  of  some  of  the  helpful  books 
referred  tp^elsewhere.  It  may  be  thought  desirable 
to  use  one  of  these  books  as  side-reading,  or  even 
as  a  study.  In  this  case  short  passages  or  chap- 
ters may  be  given  out,  and  the  meaning  later  ex- 
plained and  illustrated  by  the  pastor.  It  is  wise 
not  to  make  questions  on  the  book  used  embarrass- 


94  Every-Day  Evangelism 

ing.  They  may  be  put  to  all  present,  or  there  may 
be  questions  as  to  personal  opinion  of  sayings  read 
from  the  passage,  with  discussion  following.  If 
the  work  is  continued  from  season  to  season,  the 
pastor  will  be  able  to  employ  various  methods  of 
instruction,  and  will  be  glad  for  the  suggestion  of 
as  great  a  variety  as  possible. 

There  are  some  elements  which  go  to  make  up 
good  teaching  of  personal  work  which  must  be  re- 
iterated constantly.  It  has  already  been  remarked 
that  the  session  of  the  committee  should  always  be 
opened  with  earnest  prayer.  It  should  also  be 
taught  the  members  by  frequent  suggestion  and 
examples  that  the  whole  movement  must  be  steeped 
in  prayer  or  it  will  fail.  It  must  be  shown  that  at 
every  step  in  all  Christian  activities,  and  especially 
in  the  most  delicate  and  important  of  all,  there  must 
be  recognition  of  the  Source  of  all  good  counsel  and 
strength.  The  study  of  the  Bible,  with  a  view  to 
its  use  in  winning  souls,  is  another  of  the  matters 
which  require  that  most  useful  figure — repetition. 
It  is  so  easy  to  forget,  or  at  least  to  neglect,  these 
vitally  necessary  preparations  and  aids.  From 
another  standpoint,  too  much  insistence  can  not  be 
made  upon  psychology  and  the  study  of  the  indi- 
vidual.   Not  that  the  Divine  Spirit  who  guides,  and 


Instruction  of  Workers  95 

who,  really,  through  human  instruments  does  the 
work,  is  in  any  respect  ignorant  of  the  conditions 
and  operations  of  mind  which  obtain  in  one  whose 
salvation  we  seek.  But  He  would  have  us  show  the 
consideration  which  seems  due  to  others,  with  that 
recognition  of  personal  qualities  and  peculiaritiesj 
without  which  our  endeavors  to  exert  good  influence 
are  very  likely  to  fail.  If  any  proposes  to  enter 
into  the  conscience  of  another  to  move  its  mechan- 
ism righteously,  teach  him  that  this  is  a  very  holy 
place,  the  right  approach  to  which  should  be  made 
at  all  hazards,  but  gently  and  respectfully. 

There  is  danger  at  this  point  lest  some  should 
be  led  to  have  such  an  exalted  idea  of  the  qualities 
and  circumstances  necessary  that  they  will  be 
frightened  away  from  the  task  altogether.  It 
should  be  made  plain  that  the  Holy  Spirit  is  able 
to  make  the  thoughtful,  consecrated  mind  equal  to 
the  most  serious  responsibility;  but  there  is  to  be 
no  hasty  driving  of  rash  and  inconsiderate  people 
to  the  most  tender  and  vital  service  which  can  be 
rendered  by  one  person  to  another.  In  the  first 
year  of  my  ministry  a  zeal  which  was  not  according 
to  knowledge,  led  me  into  this  error.  Two  by  two, 
with  little  prayer  and  with  no  careful  thought  or 
training,  a  considerable  company  was  sent  out  for 


96  Every-Day  Evangelism 

house-to-house  solicitation.  Some  good  was  done^ 
no  doubt,  but  in  general  the  reports  were  somewhat 
amusing  and  a  good  deal  more  embarrassing.  The 
experiment  has  never  been  repeated,  and  never 
should  be  made  under  the  conditions  which  then 
obtained. 

It  is  to  be  understood  that  training  for  spiritual 
work  must,  first  of  all,  be  spiritual.  The  heart, 
more  truly  than  the  head,  needs  this  culture.  It 
does  not  require  that  one  should  be  a  college  grad- 
uate in  order  to  bring  a  friend  into  the  presence 
of  Christ,  perchance  into  His  love.  Indeed,  it  is 
pitiful  to  know  how  ignorant  of  Christianity,  of 
the  Bible,  and  of  religious  life  and  duty  the  average 
person  of  education  may  be.  The  colleges  do  not 
teach  these  matters,  or  usually  even  consider  that 
they  are  any  part  of  their  concern.  But  they  may 
be  acquired  elsewhere,  and  at  aU  events,  the  wisdom 
of  heart  which  gives  understanding,  sympathy,  and 
the  right  note  in  the  voice,  do  not  come  by  way  of 
merely  intellectual  processes.  To  be  able  to  lead 
his  workers  into  this  spirit,  a  pastor  should  himself 
have  a  great  and  overflowing  nature.  Moreover, 
not  merely  by  what  he  says,  but  by  what  he  is,  he 
must  conduct  them  into  the  chambers  of  the  heart 
from  which  all  others  came,  and  which  now  lives 
for  all,  as  truly  as  in  the  long  ago  it  could  not  con- 


Instruction  of  Workers  97 

tent  itself  Avithout  the  love  of  man,  but  must  break 
and  die  to  redeem  him  from  gross  treasures  unto 
the  wealth  of  its  supreme  love. 

Heart  power!  This  is  the  leverage  which 
quickens  inertia  and  moves  mass.  How  possess  it 
and  lead  others  to  its  possession  and  outflow  ?  This 
is  the  true  science  of  sciences,  which  is  learned  only 
in  the  school  of  Christ.  But  there  are  some  who 
have  passed  this  way  before  us.  They  are  grad- 
uates and  post-graduates,  as  compared  with  our- 
selves. To  obtain  a  deeper,  stronger  nature,  God 
helps  us,  not  only  by  His  word  and  communion,  but 
also  by  our  more  advanced  fellow-learners.  There 
are  people  whose  presence  and  conversation  make 
the  eye  glisten  and  the  heart  throb.  Unfor- 
tunate is  he  who  does  not  know  some  of  these,  and 
seek  them  when  he  needs  to  be  strengthened.  It 
may  be  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  a  business  man,  or 
a  house-wife,  who  can  give  the  needed  help.  Very 
likely  it  will  be  some  invalid,  who,  in  a  severe  school 
of  pain  and  bitterness,  has  learned  the  secret  of 
love.  Many  a  pastor  has  received  his  passion  for 
humanity  and  his  grace  in  reaching  them  at  the  fire 
of  an  ignorant  mechanic  or  working  woman.  An 
illiterate  German  whom  I  used  occasionally  to  meet 
years  since,  could  transport  one  into  the  seventh 
heaven  of  desire  to  win  wanderers  to  the  embrace 
7 


98  Every-Day  Evangelism 

of  Christ  by  the  light  of  his  face,  the  thrill  of  his 
voice,  the  naturalness  of  his  bearing,  and  the  sim- 
plicity of  his  dialect,  as  he  sang  a  favorite  hymn. 
"Let  us  now,"  he  would  say,  "sing  dis  verse,  'He 
saved  a  poor  sinner  like  me,'  and  see  if  ve  do  n't 
get  happy."  On  the  street,  at  home,  in  gospel 
services,  wherever  he  sang,  everybody  did  "get 
happy,"  for  it  was  the  song  of  a  redeemed  soul, 
freed  from  its  sins,  and,  like  a  bird  which  soars 
sunward  and  skyward,  rejoicing  in  its  life  and 
strength.  I  presume  that  there  were  many  who, 
like  myself,  felt  at  times  the  need  of  touching  such 
a  personality,  who  came  to  desire  the  fellowship  of 
this  humble  but  very  sincere  and  helpful  man,  and 
to  take  heart  of  him.  Some  such  character  must 
have  been  the  San  Francisco  washerwoman,  whose 
quaint  sayings  often  appeared  in  the  newspapers, 
and  such  must  also  have  been  Dan'l  Quorm  and 
"Frankie,"  of  whom  Mark  Guy  Pearse  has  so 
charmingly  written.  There  are  other  characters  of 
this  kind  in  books,  and  there  are  books  of  this  char- 
acter. Not  a  few  passages  in  Jeremy  Taylor  tend 
to  increase  heart-power,  as  do  some  of  the  sayings 
of  Thomas  a  Kempis.  In  such  biographies  as  that 
of  Henry  Drummond  by  George  Adam  Smith,  and 
Sabatier's  St.  Francis,  are  facts  and  sayings  of 
similar  strength  and  grace.     One  who  needs  the 


Instruction  of  Workers  99 

evangelistic  fire  of  his  spirit  rekindled  can  not  do 
better  than  to  read  Finney  or  Moody.  Every 
pastor  especially  will  do  well  to  read  these  men  fre- 
quently, and  he  should  not  neglect  the  mystics, 
pietists,  and  missionaries,  whose  w^ords  and  works 
were  more  intensive  and  daring  than  those  of  our 
world. 

Elsewhere  will  be  found  suggested  series  of 
topics  for  the  instruction  of  personal  workers,  to- 
gether with  a  few  outlines  of  talks  which  will  serve 
to  show  to  any  who  may  desire  such  information 
the  nature  of  the  treatment  which  may  be  given 
these  themes.  Circumstances  and  the  personnel  of 
the  membership  department  will  indicate  how  to 
adapt  the  instruction  given,  and  all  of  its  appoint- 
ments, to  the  needs  of  the  case.  Of  course  it  should 
be  remembered  that  in  this  rushing  time  people 
have  short  memories  and  little  power  of  sustained 
interest.  Addresses  are  enjoyed  and  are  useful  in 
proportion  as  they  are  brief,  simply  and  clearly 
outlined  and  filled  with  human  interest. 

It  will  be  even  more  true  of  the  teacher  of  a 
company  of  personal  workers  than  it  is  of  all  other 
teachers,  that  he  will  come  to  realize  his  own  defi- 
ciencies as  an  instructor,  but  as  he  continues  to 
impart  what  has  been  given  to  him  he  will  find 
himself  growing  in  ability  and  in  the  delight  of  the 


100  Every-Day  Evangelism 

office.  There  will  be  occasions  when,  more  profit* 
ably  than  he  could  ever  previously  do,  he  will  vary 
his  pulpit  appeals  to  Christian  activity  by  giving 
definite  information  to  his  people  as  a  whole  con- 
cerning the  duties  and  the  best  methods  of  the 
supreme  work.  Many  of  his  addresses  to  the  smaller 
number  will  make  excellent  and  much  needed  in- 
struction for  the  entire  Church,  and  their  repetition 
will  often  be  very  kindly  received. 

It  may  be,  however,  that  his  labors  in  the  pulpit 
and  with  his  company  of  workers  will  seem  to  him 
to  fall  far  short  of  the  practical  effect  which  they 
should  have,  and  this  for  no  fault  of  his  own,  but 
by  reason  of  the  inattention,  obtuseness,  or  neglect 
of  his  people.  This  should  not  occasion  surprise. 
The  Great  Teacher  Himself  had  dull  pupils,  slow 
of  heart  and  remiss  in  their  manifest  duties.  But 
He  had  patience  to  bear  and  not  grow  weary.  Line 
upon  line,  precept  upon  precept,  here  a  little  and 
there  a  little.  He  taught  them,  until  at  last  He  in- 
formed and  inspirited  a  few  followers,  who,  years 
after  His  departure  from  earth,  were  doing  with 
energy  and  power  the  work  which  He  so  painfully 
had  impressed  upon  them. 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  it  is  a  very 
great  achievement  to  enlist  and  to  develop  a  worker. 
Socrates  did  no  act  which  so  enriched  the  world 


Instruction  of  Workers         101 

as  did  his  teaching  of  Plato.  The  old  Milanese 
painter,  gazing  with  tears  of  joj  upon  the  "Last 
Supper,"  famously  produced  by  his  beloved  pupil, 
Leonardo,  cried,  "I  paint  no  more,  my  son."  He 
knew  that  his  work  was  to  be  continued  and  im- 
proved through  the  youth  whom  he  had  acquainted 
with  the  rules  of  art.  Sir  Humphry  Davy  well 
accounted  all  his  discoveries  as  naught  compared 
with  Faraday,  the  best  representative  of  his  in- 
struction. It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  Jesus 
did  more  for  His  kingdom  by  training  a  John  or 
a  Peter  than  by  gaining  hundreds  of  converts.  It 
may  not  make  him  so  famous  or  bring  to  him  so 
many  honors,  but  the  pastor  who  will  sacrifice  time 
and  strength  to  the  inspiration  and  cultivation  of 
the  powers  of  Church  men  and  women,  particularly 
of  the  young,  will  thereby  advance  the  interests  of 
the  kingdom  of  God,  to  which  he  has  given  his 
life.  In  later  years  he  will  have  the  delight  which 
an  old  pastor  recently  expressed.  With  justifiable 
pride  he  claimed  the  early  training  and  culture  of 
one  of  the  best  laymen  of  a  great  Church.  Another 
preacher,  whose  work  in  the  pulpit  is  almost  con- 
cluded, if  he  thinks  of  it,  as  I  doubt  not  he  often 
does,  has  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  within  a 
few  miles  of  him  two  strong  leaders  of  the  people 
are  carrying  forward  a  wider  work  than  he  has 


102  Every-Day  Evangelism 

ever  done,  the  earliest  and  best  preparation  for 
which  they  received  through  him.  This  is  no  small 
reward  for  carefulness  of  consideration  and  deed. 
It  is  success.  It  makes  one  in  whom  more  sordid 
ambitions  have  long  since  grown  cold  feel  that  his 
surpassing  passion  has  been  realized,  and  that  his 
life  has  been  worth  living.  And  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  to  one  who  has  not  only  devoted  thought 
and  effort  to  his  own  enrichment  of  mind,  and  de- 
velopment in  the  ability  and  experience  needed  in 
order  co  become  a  successful  worker,  but  who  has 
widened  his  purpose  and  directed  his  energies  to  the 
task  of  maturing  the  gifts  of  those  within  the 
sphere  of  his  influence,  the  honors  of  heaven  are 
sure 

"To  the  giver  shall  be  given: 
If  thou  wouldst  walk  in  white 
Make  other  spirits  bright." 


CHAPTER  VII 
PROCURING  MATERIAL 

The  personal  work  of  the  Church  is  too  largely 
confined  to  the  small  circle  of  those  who  are  so  near 
at  hand  or  so  closely  related  to  the  membership  as 
always  to  be  thought  of  in  this  connection.  This 
is  most  unfortunate,  as  it  results  in  undue  pressure 
upon  persons  who  have  probably  been  wearied  or 
hardened  by  importunity,  while  it  leaves  the  vast 
number  with  no  teaching  or  invitation  to  accept 
Christ.  As  for  negligent  and  even  absent  Church 
members,  they  are  commonly  lost  sight  of  and  for- 
gotten altogether,  except  by  the  over-burdened 
pastor,  who,  at  best,  is  able  to  give  them  but  infre- 
quent attention. 

To  begin  with,  names  of  persons  who  need  and 
who  may  respond  to  Christian  propagandism  and 
culture  may  be  secured  from  the  membership  de- 
partment itself.  All  should  be  encouraged  to  make 
prayer-lists  of  those  for  whose  salvation  or  reclama- 
103 


104  Every-Day  Evangelism 

tion  they  will  pray  and  labor.  Cards  for  names 
and  addresses  may  be  provided,  on  which  informa- 
tion may  be  furnished  as  to  individuals  who  should 
be  brought  into  the  fellowship  of  the  local  Church, 
either  on  confession  of  faith  or  by  certificate.  A 
catalogue  of  the  next  of  kin,  obtained  in  this  way, 
will  be  suggestive  to  the  pastor  in  his  own  visiting 
and  in  that  of  his  assistants.  The  persons  repre- 
sented thereon  may  be  sent  Church  papers,  pro- 
grams, and  invitations,  or  any  helpful  Christian 
literature.  In  a  very  brief  time,  in  my  own  member- 
ship department,  there  were  received  the  names  of 
some  five  hundred  people,  many  of  whom  were 
totally  unknown  to  me,  but  who,  with  a  few  excep- 
tions, due  to  error,  were  really  those  whom  our  own 
Church  ought  long  before  to  have  sought.  If 
nothing  further  had  resulted  than  the  gathering 
of  this  valuable  material  for  future  attention,  all 
the  trouble  and  expenditure  of  time  would  have 
been  amply  repaid.  Not  a  few  of  those  whose 
names  appeared  on  the  lists  accumulated  have  since 
been  brought  into  vital  contact  with  Christ  and 
with  His  work. 

If  the  Church  has  an  active  vestibule  committee 
it  will  not  be  necessary  to  assign  such  work  to  the 
membership  department.  But  from  this  source 
should  come  a  considerable  list  of  persons  to  be 


Procuring  Material  105 

visited.  In  some  cases  one  of  the  groups  may  be 
assigned  vestibule  work,  but  the  selection  of  mem- 
bers for  this  service  is  always  to  be  carefully  con- 
sidered, as  many  excellent  and  even  prominent 
people  have  no  adaptability  to  the  task  of  meet- 
ing total  strangers  and  of  extracting  from  them 
such  facts  as  the  Church  should  receive.  Ves- 
tibule committees  need  careful  instruction  by  the 
pastor,  and  in  their  hands  report  blanks  are  neces- 
sary, since  the  memory,  as  a  rule,  fails  to  accurately 
retain  useful  items  like  correct  initials,  numbers, 
and  personal  data. 

The  religious  canvass  is  the  most  general  way 
to  discover  the  unchurched,  and  if  it  is  made  care- 
fully a  vast  amount  of  material  can  be  obtained 
by  this  means.  If  the  right  canvassers  can  be 
secured  it  is  profitable  in  large  cities  to  hire  them, 
and  then  to  require  painstaking  service.  However, 
a  voluntary  corps  of  w^orkers  may  do  just  as  effi- 
cient work,  though  more  slowly,  and  requiring  more 
careful  and  constant  supervision.  There  should  be 
report  blanks  or  books  made  out  somewhat  as 
follows : 


106  Every-Day  Evangelism 


(Name  of  Family.) 

(Street.) 

(Number.) 

Number  of  persons 

Names,  if  secured 

Church  attended 

Who  are  members  of  Church?     

Who  attend  Sunday-school?      

Leaving  names  who  do  not  attend 

If  not  attendants,  Church  preferred 

Would  a  call  from  the  pastor  be  desired?    

Boarders  or  servants,  names  and  Churches 

(Signed) Canvasser. 


It  is  more  convenient  for  filing  and  reference 
to  have  the  street  and  number  at  one  corner  and  the 
family  name  at  the  other.  Of  course,  where  fami- 
lies are  found  to  be  regular  adherents  of  another 
Church,  canvassers  should  be  instructed  simply  to 
inquire  as  to  boarders  and  servants,  and  to  take 
their  leave  with  some  pleasant  word  of  kindly  in- 
terest. The  blanks  should  be  printed  with  such 
proportionate  spaces  as  will  permit  of  full  infor- 
mation where  it  is  needed  and  gained.  Persons 
going  out  in  this  service  should  be  provided  with 
a  card  of  introduction,  and  either  joined  with  it  or 
separate  as  may  be  desired,  an  attractive  announce- 
ment of  the  Church  location,  hours   of  service, 


Procuring  Material  107 

activities,  and  possibly  some  facts  of  history.  This 
should  be  left  in  every  house  as  an  advertisement 
and  invitation.  Cheap,  poor  printing  is  not  wise. 
The  more  pleasant  the  conversation  of  the  visitor 
and  the  more  beautiful  and  effective  the  card  or  cir- 
cular left,  the  more  certain  will  it  be  that  some 
member  or  members  of  the  family  called  on  will, 
sooner  or  later,  attend  the  Church. 

Doubtless  the  best  of  all  material  for  the  work 
of  the  membership  department  will  be  that  ob- 
tained in  the  meetings  of  the  Church  itself.  The 
Sunday-school  rolls  should  be  inspected  regularly, 
to  see  if  there  are  not  some  names  thereon  of  per- 
sons who  ought  to  be  interested  in  Church  member- 
ship. These  names  also  may  be  divided  up  by  the 
whole  department,  or  by  the  members  of  the  group 
assigned  this  part  of  the  work.  If  the  school  itself 
is  doing  nothing  to  encourage  its  members  to  attend 
preaching  services,  a  plan  may  be  devised  for  en- 
couraging this  desirable  habit,  the  use  of  cards, 
certificates,  and  booklets,  given  for  a  certain  num- 
ber of  attendances  during  the  year,  having  been 
found  very  successful.  This  is  a  type  of  evan- 
gelism which  is  so  largely  neglected  that  in  most 
cases  it  may  be  said  that  the  Sunday-school  is 
largely  composed  of  non-Church  goers. 


108  Every-Day  Evangelism 

Revival  campaigns  will  furnish  much  work  for 
membership  groups.  One  reason  that  results  of 
such  undertakings  are  not  larger  and  more  per- 
manent is  that  after-work  is  done  so  slowly  and  in- 
adequately. If  those  impressed  are  visited  at  once, 
and  continuously,  until  definite  and  lasting  relations 
are  formed,  there  is  less  cause  for  disappointment, 
and  the  number  is  decreased  who  say,  I  have  tried 
religion,  but  did  not  find  anything  in  it  for  me.  It 
is  exceedingly  difficult  to  influence  a  once  awakened 
sinner  who  never  found  his  way  into  the  fold  of 
Christ,  but  who  thinks  that  he  has  disproved  the 
value  of  Christian  experience. 

The  Sunday  night  service,  where  it  is  well  at- 
tended, presents  a  very  excellent  opportunity  for 
getting  needed  facts  about  more  or  less  regular 
attendants  and  adherents.  Even  If  it  Is  not  a  time 
when  after-meetings  are  being  held,  or  when  It  is 
deemed  wise  to  exhort  persons  to  rise  or  to  come 
forward  for  prayer,  excellent  advices  may  be  ob- 
tained by  the  use  of  various  cards,  which  many 
will  not  hesitate  to  sign. 

At  times  an  application  card  may  be  employed, 
finding  some  who  are  ready  at  once  to  join  the 
Church. 


Procuring  Material  109 


MEMBERSHIP  APPLICATION. 

Church. 

As  I  now  accept  Jesus  Christ  as  my  Savior, 
and  as  it  is  my  determination,  God's  grace 
assisting  me  to  lead  a  Christian  life,  I  hereby 
request  the  pastor  of Church  to  re- 
ceive me  as  a  member,  I  will  seek  to  show 
the  sincerity  and  permanent  character  of  my 
purpose. 

(Name) 

(Address) 


A  broader  net  is  thrown  out  by  a  card  which, 
while  not  a  membership  application,  is  indicative  of 
a  true  acceptance  of  Christ.  This  card  may  be 
read,  with  the  Scripture  passages  attached,  and  a 
careful  explanation  may  be  given  as  to  its  deep 
meaning  and  as  to  the  value  of  committing  one's 
self  by  signature  to  that  which  is  the  heart's  real 
faith. 

Whosoever  tvill,  let  him  take  the  water  of  life  freely. 


Believing  in  Jesus  Christ  as  the  Savior  of 
men,  I  desire  henceforth  to  lead  a  Christian 
life,  and  to  that  end  I  wish  the  prayers  and 
assistance  of  the  Church. 


(Name) 

(Address). 


6  ^• 


Come  unto  Me  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden  and  I  will 
give  you  rest. 


110 


Every-Day  Evangelism 


A  form  of  ballot  adapted  from  one  used  at  the 
First  Methodist  Church,  Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  the  Rev. 
F.  T.  Keeney,  D.  D.,  pastor,  has  been  found  serv- 
iceable. 


YES 

I  AM  A 
CHURCH   MEMBER. 


I  think  of  uniting  with 
Church  by  letter: 

Name 

Address 


The  pastor  of  this  Church  may- 
send  for  my  letter. 

Send  to 

Pastor's  name,  if  known 


NO 

I  AM  NOT  A 

CHURCH    MEMBER. 


It  is  my  purpose  to  lead  a 
Christian  life,  and  I  would 
like  to  be  enrolled  as  a 
member  in Church. 


Namie 

Address 


Each  person  in  the  audience  is  requested  at 
least  to  tear  this  slip  in  two  at  the  scored  line,  and 
to  vote  one  end  or  the  other.  In  this  way  the  pastor 
determines  the  proportion  of  non-Church  members 
in  his  audience.  The  blanks  filled  out  are  almost 
sure  to  be  "wheat  in  the  bin,"  if  the  right  care  is 
given. 

The  card  below,  having  two  sides,  as  indicated, 
is  a  combination  of  various  suggestions,  and  this 
has  been  found  a  very  excellent  fisher's  bait. 


Procuring  Material 

Front  Side. 


Ill 


TO  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH. 

Pastor,  R«v 

Assistant,  Rev 


I  think  of  uniting  with 
Church  by  letter. 

Name 

Address 


Will  the  pastor  of  

Church  send  for  my  let- 
ter? 

Send  to 

Church  

Town 

Pastor,  if  known 


It  Is  my  purpose  to  lead  a 
Christian  life  and  I  would 
like  to  be  enrolled  as  a 

member  in 

Church. 


Name  ... 
Address , 


Change  of  address 

From  

To 


City.... 
State 


Reverse  Side. 


To  the  Pastor                             Our  seats  are  free. 

Church.             We  are  glad  you  are  present. 

City State. 

Please  call  on 

:::.;     ••;;;^;^^; -•;;"•;;;  • ;;;-; | 

Who  is 

Place  an  X 
to  indicate 
which 

Sick. 

In  Sorrow. 

A  new  comer. 

Desires  to  unite  with  the  Church. 

Thinks  of  beginning  a  Christian  life. 

The  above  i 

s  reqi 

lested  by 

Addre 

;»:::i:::::::::::::::::::;:::::::;:::::::::;::::::;:;::::::::::::::::  i 

1 

112  Every-Day  Evangelism 

Some  of  the  above  cards  are  excellent  for  fol- 
lowing up  an  altar  service,  or  general  invitation; 
those  who  come  forward,  rise,  or  otherwise  indicate 
their  purpose,  being  thus  recorded.  It  will  be  ob- 
served that  these  cards  all  possess  significance. 
There  is  little  value  in  the  "I  want  to  be  better," 
and  the  "Desire  to  be  a  Christian"  pledge  often 
used,  and  sometimes  falsely  counted  as  evidence  of 
conversion. 

It  will  be  strange,  indeed,  if,  by  the  above 
methods,  supplemented  by  the  information  secured 
during  calls  made,  the  largest  and  most  active  mem- 
bership department  is  not  speedily  furnished  ma- 
terial enough  to  last  for  many  months. 

The  progress  of  the  work  itself  will  supply  the 
names  of  new  members  of  the  Church  who  are  to 
be  visited,  and  the  pastor's  knowledge  of  the  unin- 
terested, disaffected,  or  unfaithful  members  of  the 
flock,  as  well  as  of  those  who  are  difficult  and  slow 
to  form  attachments,  will  give  opportunity  for 
ministrations  of  the  greatest  value. 

Is  there  need  of  adding  the  reminder  that  the 
great  Head  of  the  Church  desires,  that 

"Not  one  life  should  be  destroyed 
Or  cast  as  rubbish  to  the  void?" 

"God  is  no  respecter  of  persons,"  and  He  would 
have  us  seek  men  for  themselves  and  not  for  their 


Procuring  Material  113 

possessions,  ability,  or  culture.  Rich  and  refined 
personalities  are  so  hedged  about  or  so  awe-inspir- 
ing that  they  are  sometimes  religiously  ignored.  It 
is  a  sin.  Not  fear  nor  self -depreciation  should  keep 
us  from  witnessing,  as  did  Paul,  before  rulers  and 
leaders  of  society.  But  he  who  despises  the  poor 
and  the  rude,  or  who  makes  naught  of  gathering 
children  into  Christian  fellowship,  has  missed  the 
principle  which  controls  the  kingdom  of  Christ. 
The  child  will  soon  be  a  man  or  woman.  The  illiter- 
ate may  yet  be  more  truly  cultured  than  some  who 
have  had  all  advantages  of  school.  By  the  next 
wheel-turn  the  poor  may  become  the  rich.  But 
whether  these  transformations  occur  or  not,  all  souls 
are  God's  jewels  and  He  wants  and  can  use  them 
all.  "Not  a  respectable  family  among  them,"  a 
pious  scoffer  once  said  of  a  company  of  new  mem- 
bers received  into  the  Church.  But  out  of  that 
number  came  several  leaders  of  men  and  heads  of 
very  "respectable"  families.  "Only  a  boys'  re- 
vival," was  the  comment  made  on  a  series  of  meet- 
ings which  was  held  to  be  a  failure.  But  the  paper 
which,  thirty-five  years  later,  told  the  story,  spoke 
of  one  boy  who  had  been  a  Sunday-school  superin- 
tendent for  twenty-seven  years,  of  another  who 
had  been  for  twenty-four  years  pastor  of  that  very 
Churqjh  in  which  he  was  converted,  of  another  who 
■     -^ 


114  Every-Day  Evangelism 

was  a  prominent  minister  of  Philadelphia.  Two 
others  were  also  preachers,  and,  of  the  rest,  those 
who  could  be  traced  were  right-living,  useful  Chris* 
tians. 

Is  there  "a  heaven  on  earth?"  If  so,  it  is  in 
the  heart  which  loves  all  men,  and  which  unselfishly 
and  without  discrimination  seeks  their  salvation. 
And  in  the  heaven  to  come,  one  of  the  great  joys 
will  be  to  find  streams  of  influence  reappearing,  as 
the  Greeks,  who  went  as  colonists  to  Sicily,  believed 
their  loved  Alphseus  again  flowed  before  them  in 
the  waters  of  Ortygia. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
FOLLOWING  UP  RESULTS 

Produced  by  the  spiritual  life  and  labors  of  the 
Church,  good  influences  are  always  at  work  among 
those  who  have  not  confessed  Christ.  The  sermons 
preached,  the  true  testimonies  uttered  in  public 
and  in  private,  and  still  more  powerfully  all  pure 
and  self-denying  Christian  lives  are  continuously 
making  impressions  which  may  lead  to  conversion. 
For  the  lack  of  any  protracted  interest  shown  in 
them,  however,  many  persons  by  whom  the  signs  of 
conviction  have  been  manifested  drift  away  with- 
out definitely  declaring  themselves  or  becoming  at- 
tached to  the  Church.  This  Is  a  double  wrong;  it 
impoverishes  the  Church,  and  it  hardens  hearts 
wholly  convinced  and  half  won  to  the  Christian 
life,  making  it  exceedingly  difficult  to  reach  them  in 
future.  The  meshes  of  our  gospel  net  are  alto- 
gether too  wide,  and  permit  of  too  many  escapes. 
Our  efforts  at  rescuing  the  lost  are  too  feeble;  we 
115 


116  Every-Day  Evangelism 

permit  many  to  die  when  half  saved.  If  it  is  worth 
while  convincing  them  of  their  need  of  Christ,  it 
is  certainly  not  less  important  to  conserve  the  effects 
of  such  efforts  by  seeing  that  steps  are  taken  which 
are  binding  and  permanent. 

No  pastor  can  follow  up  all  the  results,  even  of 
his  own  preaching.  In  many  cases  he  does  not 
know  whom  the  truth  has  touched.  Of  course,  no 
one  may  possess  this  information,  but  often  some 
friend  or  Church  acquaintance  finds  out  what  is 
carefully  concealed  from  others,  and  if  trained  to 
seize  such  an  opportunity  is  able  to  bring  about 
an  open  confession. 

Bereavements  and  losses,  seasons  of  sickness,  of 
special  anxieties  and  cares,  are  often  found  to  have 
mellowed  the  hardest  soil,  and  to  have  prepared  it 
for  Christian  teaching.  After  the  pastor  has  per- 
formed his  offices  of  love,  there  is  work  for  the 
men  and  women  of  the  Church,  whose  co-operation 
in  thoughtfulness  and  in  direct  instruction  is  likely 
to  confirm  all  good  effects  produced,  and  to  lead 
to  the  desire  for  permanent  Christian  fellowship. 
Therefore,  to  the  names  obtained  by  the  means 
previously  suggested  should  be  added  those  of  in- 
dividuals especially  afflicted  from  any  cause. 

If  the  groups  into  which  the  membership  de- 
partment has  been  divided  have  been  selected  with 


Following  up  Results  117 

reference  to  age  and  fitness  to  work  together,  those 
who  are  to  be  called  upon  and  dealt  with  may  be 
divided  in  a  similar  way  and  furnished  to  the 
leaders,  who  will  assign  them  to  individuals,  keep- 
ing a  record  of  the  apportionment,  and  taking 
pains  to  know  whether  or  not  the  persons  are 
actually  visited.  Judgment  should  be  exercised  as 
to  the  number  of  names  divided  up  in  this  way, 
and  the  proportion  to  each  worker.  Experience 
will  soon  reveal  who  may  be  trusted  with  the  greater 
responsibilities.  Those  who  do  most  work  and  do 
it  in  the  best  manner  will  be  rewarded,  for  this  is 
the  natural  law,  by  being  given  more  to  do.  There 
will  be  cases  which  the  pastor  will  prefer  to  reserve 
for  himself,  and  each  leader  likewise.  As  all  the 
operations  within  the  committee  as  a  whole,  and 
also  within  each  group,  are  to  be  treated  as  confi- 
dential, there  can  be  no  harm  done  by  introducing 
the  same  name  into  several  groups,  or  by  assigning 
it  to  a  number  of  persons  whose  co-operation  in 
this  undertaking  may  be  unknown  to  themselves. 
In  all  membership  work  those  who  are  enlisted 
should  be  encouraged  to  keep  private  memoranda 
of  cases  which  have  been  assigned  to  them,  or  which 
they  have  themselves  undertaken.  If  the  accounts 
are  carefully  kept,  there  will  likely  be  more  per- 


118  Every-Day  Evangelism 

sistent  endeavor  to  secure  definite  action,  and  in 
time,  as  the  labor  done  becomes  fruitful,  the  data 
entered  in  the  note-book  will  afford  much  encour- 
agement. In  the  absence  of  such  a  practice  many 
will  either  become  superficial  and  ineffective  in  their 
personal  work,  or  they  may  come  to  feel  that  what 
they  are  able  to  accomplish  is  of  comparatively 
little  importance,  when  effort  will  cease. 

The  following  is  a  fac-simile  of  the  pages  of  a 
nt)te-book  used  by  workers'  training  classes  in  a 
number  of  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations,  and 
originating,  I  think,  with  the  Cleveland  Associa- 
tion. The  book  is  simply  and  inexpensively  printed 
so  that  it  may  be  used  in  quantities.  Any  mem- 
bership department  could  print  very  reasonably 
enough  copies  to  last  for  years. 

As  it  is  a  great  bore  to  many  people  to  keep 
a  diary  or  any  accounts  of  experience,  the  use  of 
these  records  should  not  be  made  obligatory  or 
embarrassing.  For  my  own  part,  I  would  give  a 
great  deal  to  possess  notes  of  very  interesting  in- 
terviews and  experiences  of  times  past,  which  I 
have  found  to  be  but  imperfectly  preserved  in 
memory. 


Following  up  Results 


119 


Name 

Residence 

Business  address 

Occupation 

Date  first  conversation.. 
Under  what  conditions 


State  of  mind. 


Information  about  man:  Age. 

Married 

Home  conditions 


Associates  and  habits , 


Church  relation. 


RECORD  OF  INTERVIEWSo 
(GIVE  DATES.) 


We  have  now  to  consider  a  form  of  personal 
work  second  to  none  in  its  importance,  and  yet  one 
which  is  largely  neglected.  This  is  oversight  of 
new  members  of  the  Church.  For  the  lack  of  any 
special  attention  no  small  proportion  of  young 
Christians,  and  even  of  persons  brought  in  by  cer- 
tificate, either  sink  into  uselessness  or  fall  away 
altogether   within   the   first   two    years    of   their 


120  Every-Day  Evangelism 

Church  relation.  No  one  takes  note  of  their  degree 
of  regularity  at  worship.  No  one  explains  to  them 
what  they  may  do  in  the  Church,  or  what  they 
should  give  to  it  of  money  or  service.  They  are, 
perhaps,  introduced  to  very  few  persons.  Soon 
they  come  to  feel  that  there  is  no  place  for  them, 
and  they  may  even  get  the  notion  that  for  some 
reason  they  are  not  wanted.  Meanwhile  other  in- 
fluences come  into  their  lives.  Secular  societies  pay 
them  court,  the  usual  reasons  for  especial  attrac- 
tion and  cultivation  of  new  members  by  these  or- 
ganizations being  less  evident  to  the  objects  thereof 
than  to  others.  Misconceptions  arise,  and  in  the 
absence  of  watchfulness  those  who  might  become 
valuable  constituents  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  are 
either  lost  or  join  the  company  of  those  who  main- 
tain a  nominal  Church  relation,  while  their  hearts 
are  elsewhere. 

Absolute  or  virtual  lapses  from  Christian  fel- 
lowship and  service  constitute  one  of  the  most  dis- 
quieting features  of  the  times.  There  would  not 
be  less  but  more  concern  about  this  if  any  reliable 
statistics  were  in  existence.  In  the  nature  of  the 
case  the  figures  would  be  very  difficult  to  obtain, 
but  to  gain  some  conception  of  the  matter  it  is 
sufficient  to  study  the  communities  with  which  one 
is  acquainted,  and  to  consider  that  they  are  un- 


Following  up  Results  121 

doubtedly  representative  o£  general  conditions. 
Ask  indifferent  Church-members  and  out-and-out 
deserters,  and  it  will  be  determined  that  nine-tenths 
of  them  had  at  first  some  genuine  interest.  They 
received  at  least  the  beginnings  of  a  Christian  ex- 
perience, but  something  happened, — they  hardly 
know  what,  and  progress  ceased  almost  before  it 
was  begun.  Many  of  those  who  have  retained  their 
Church  connection,  if  asked,  "Are  you  a  Chris- 
tian.?" reply,  "I  was, — once."  Some  merely  answer 
"No."  Not  a  few  turn  the  query  aside,  with  some 
irrelevant  remark,  not  being  willing,  perhaps,  to 
honestly  meet  the  issue,  even  in  their  own  minds. 
Every  one  who  has  the  care  of  Church  books  knows 
well  what  a  large  amount  of  material  of  this  kind 
goes  to  make  up  reported  totals,  or  is  silently 
counted  out  by  discreet  officials. 

Is  there  any  means  of  correcting  this  evil.''  Can 
the  ebb-tide  away  from  Christian  experience  and 
living  be  stopped?  I  believe  that  there  is  a  way, 
at  least,  to  materially  reduce  its  volume,  keeping 
thousands  from  wasting  themselves  on  unworthy 
associations  and  pursuits,  and  retaining  their  good 
qualities  for  the  service  of  Christ.  It  has  been 
remarked  that  losses  of  this  kind  mainly  occur 
during  the  earliest  months  of  connection  with  the 
Church.    Either  it  is  a  new  convert  who  falls  away, 


122  Every-Day  Evangelism 

or  else  one  who,  having  removed  to  a  new  locality, 
is  not  easily  adjusted  to  its  relationships.  Having 
been  acquainted  with  every  one  in  the  former 
Church,  as  well  as  being  among  the  number  who 
were  very  much  at  home  in  its  work,  he  does  not 
understand  why  it  is  not  the  same  in  a  new  place, 
or,  if  he  does  appreciate  the  difficulties,  has  no 
patience  for  them,  and  will  not  volunteer  the  rea- 
sonable advances  which  would  assure  friendship  and 
lead  to  his  enlistment  in  congenial  and  useful  serv- 
ices. Let  the  Church  bridge  the  chasm.  Let 
active  members  take  the  initiative  in  making  new 
comers  welcome,  and  let  the  responsibility  of  de- 
velopment be  not  less  earnestly  met  than  is  that 
of  the  gathering  of  converts.  The  personal 
workers'  committee  or  department  offers  the  agency 
needed  to  strengthen  the  hold  of  Christianity  upon 
both  of  these  classes.  The  size  of  the  committee 
will  usually  bear  a  close  relation  to  the  field  which 
is  being  cultivated  and  to  its  results.  If  the  com- 
mittee is  large  and  strong,  it  will  surely  be  equal 
to  the  additional  labor  of  having  an  added  care  or 
two  per  member;  and  if  it  is  small,  but  makes  up 
in  zeal  what  it  lacks  in  size,  it  will  be  ready  to 
assume  almost  any  helpful  task.  This  is  the  sug- 
gestion: As  fast  as  new  members  are  received  into 
the  Church,  either  by  letter  or  on  confession  of 


Following  up  Results  123 

faith,  let  them  be  divided  among  the  committee. 
Assignments  should  be  made  carefully,  with  refer- 
ence to  congeniality  and  probable  influence.  Very 
likely  the  pastor  will  see  to  this,  and  he  will  so 
instruct  the  workers  that  ill-advised  or  unwelcome 
attentions  will  not  be  offered.  Without  in  any  way 
revealing  the  fact  that  he  has  been  appointed  to 
such  an  office,  each  one  who  has  taken  a  name  will 
look  after  the  person  in  his  charge.  He  will  ob- 
serve whether  or  not  he  is  regular  in  his  attend- 
ance at  the  various  meetings  which  he  should  sup- 
port. He  will  see  that  sufficient  instructions  are 
given  so  that  he  may  get  a  fair  chance  to  arrive 
at  a  good  acquaintance  among  Christian  people. 
He  will  interest  himself  in  the  matter  of  some  con- 
tribution, and  the  more  fearlessly  as  he  may  realize 
the  truth  that  no  voluntarily  non-supporting 
Church-member  becomes  vitally  interested  in  the 
work  of  Christ.  In  every  way  he  will  so  inform 
himself  as  to  the  conduct  and  needs  of  the  one 
placed  in  his  care,  that  he  will  be  able  to  secure 
for  him  all  the  consideration  and  help  required  in 
order  that  he  may  gain  a  sure  place  in  the  life  of 
the  Church  and  become  a  permanent  factor  in  its 
activities. 

What  will  be  said  of  this?     One  will  say,  "It 
Is  mechanical."     But  mechanism,  rightly  used,  Is 


124  Every-Day  Evangelism 

powerful  to  achieve  good  ends.  Another  will  say, 
"I  can  get  no  one  to  do  such  work."  Did  you  ever 
try?  Plenty  of  people  are  spoiling  for  something 
to  do  and  are  saying  bitterly,  "No  man  hath  hired 
me."  There  are  some  such  in  your  Church.  It 
will  pay  to  find  them  and  to  set  them  at  work 
before  they,  too,  are  stolen  away  by  those  first- 
class  organizers,  the  world  and  the  devil.  It  will, 
of  course,  be  objected  that  this  plan  will  become 
known  and  that  harm  will  be  done;  or,  at  least, 
that  well-meaning  but  inept  workers  will  make 
oiFensive  blunders  and  drive  away  more  people  than 
they  help.  Experience  teaches  the  exact  reverse. 
[Very  few  people  are  repelled  from  Churches  by 
attentions  overdone  or  awkwardly  offered.  It  is 
underrating  the  intelligence  and  good-will  of 
people  to  suppose  them  to  be  so  ready  to  take 
offense,  or  to  despise  any  kindly  service  rendered 
them.  And  the  knowledge  that  matters  of  this 
nature  are  being  looked  after,  so  far  from  offend- 
ing any  one  who  may  discover  the  fact,  or  may 
even  be  made  to  know  that  he  is  himself  one  of 
the  subjects  of  this  care,  will  very  likely  be  some- 
thing of  which  he  Tvill  boast  when  he  speaks  to  out- 
siders of  the  Church  in  which  he  has  found  a  real 
home.  If  some  light-minded  individual  should  be 
too  proud  to  correctly  estimate  the  value  of  the 


Following  up  Results  125 

courtesy  extended  to  him,  a  score  of  others  will  be 
brought  into  relations  which,  for  many  years,  will 
be  reciprocally  helpful.  Moreover,  let  it  be  re- 
peated, all  of  this  work  may  be  done  without  ad- 
vertising, and  often,  especially  in  the  city,  with 
no  general  knowledge  that  it  is  being  attempted. 
So  that  it  comes  finally  to  the  old  excuse,  "It  is  too 
much  trouble."  With  this  criticism,  either  ex- 
pressed or  felt,  it  is  not  easy  to  have  much  patience. 
What  is  the  Church  for,  if  it  is  not  to  take  trouble  ? 
What  does  the  service  of  Christ  suppose, — singing 
hymns,  repeating  prayers,  hearing  sermons,  put- 
ting a  few  surplus  coins  on  the  plate,  or  sending 
an  occasional  check.?  Or  does  the  New  Testament 
teach  brotherly  love,  concern  for  the  highest  w^el- 
fare  of  men,  painstaking  in  all  the  offices  of  Chris- 
tian benevolence  and  teaching? 

It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  the  exhortations 
of  the  Scriptures  with  reference  to  spiritual  counsel 
and  helpfulness  are  for  ministers  only.  If  so,  they 
would  be  most  impracticable,  since  as  has  been  often 
remarked,  the  days  are  not  long  enough  for  the 
best  pastors  to  do  more  than  a  fragment  of  the  work 
needed  in  an  average  parish.  It  is  the  duty  of  all 
Christians  to  care  for  the  religious  interests  of 
those  about  them.  This  may  be  readily  admitted, 
but  for  lack  of  any  system  to  bring  it  to  pass,  it 


126  Every-Day  Evangelism 

will  be  as  frankly  conceded  that  very  little  per- 
sonal care  is  given  to  such  matters.  How  many 
Church  members  have  made  the  least  effort  in  this 
direction?  The  fault  is  not  wholly  that  of  the 
many,  however;  it  is  in  part  due  to  poor  leader- 
ship, for  the  great  majority  of  Christians,  even 
of  those  who  are  not  of  much  spiritual  strength, 
would  willingly  do  something  to  help  those  younger 
than  themselves  or  newer  to  Church  relationships. 
They  do  not  understand  just  where  to  go  or  what 
to  do,  or  they  lack  the  power  to  set  themselves  at 
work.  Under  guidance  they  develop  both  interest 
and  ability. 

Another  phase  of  Christian  helpfulness  is  not 
to  be  overlooked  when  the  conservation  of  the 
results  of  Christian  effort  is  being  considered. 
"Strengthen  thy  brethren,"  was  the  Master's  in- 
junction to  Peter,  prefaced  by  the  words,  "When 
thou  hast  turned  again,"  a  phrase  which  is  equiva- 
lent to  the  "About,  face !"  of  a  military  command. 
A  good  many  Christians  need  this  word,  "About, 
face!"  They  are  headed  the  wrong  way.  To  go 
forward  in  the  direction  of  their  present  ambitions 
and  spirit  means  defeat.  Certainly  they  can  never 
do  the  work  of  Christ  or  establish  their  brethren 
until  they  turn  again.  But  others  are  of  a  better 
type.    They  may  have  had  seasons  of  weakness  or 


Following  up  Results  127 

of  waywardness,  but  they  saw  the  error  they  were 
making;  they  remembered  Him  who  loved  them, 
and  who  not  only  prayed  that  their  faith  might 
not  fail,  but  died  for  them  on  Calvary's  brow,  and 
they  turned  that  they  might  behold  the  face  of 
their  Savior,  full  of  love  and  pardon,  and  that  they 
might  give  to  Him  who  redeemed  them  a  new 
allegiance  and  service.  They  are  now  fit  for  duty, 
and  can  help  others  to  put  on  the  whole  armor  of 
Christ,  and  to  enter  His  work  with  courage  and 
devotion.  If  the  committee  has  been  well  chosen, 
it  contains  a  large  proportion  of  such  persons. 
And  these  may  easily  be  directed  to  members  who, 
though  perhaps  they  have  long  been  connected 
with  the  Church,  need  to  be  developed  and  settled 
by  Christian  inspiration  and  sympathy.  The  poor, 
in  more  senses  than  one,  are  always  with  us,  by 
their  condition,  at  least,  making  an  earnest  appeal 
for  love  and  care. 

Let  a  wide  distinction  be  made  between  false 
and  feeble  professors  of  religion.  It  is  a  mistake 
to  suppose  that  there  are  many  hypocrites  in  Chris- 
tian circles.  For  the  greater  part  the  inducements 
to  hypocrites,  who,  of  course,  seek  the  main  chance, 
are  not  within  but  without  the  pale  of  Church 
membership.  The  Church  has  a  hundred  ignorant, 
feeble,  maimed,  or  diseased  communicants  for  every 


128  Every-Day  Evangelism 

person  who  may  justly  be  suspected  of  hypocrisy. 
In  modern  times  the  Scribes  may  be  in  the  Church, 
but  the  Pharisees  are  without.  They  have  ceased 
making  long  prayers  or  speaking  in  the  syna- 
gogues, and  now  write  for  the  newspapers,  make 
political  speeches  and  address  juries,  thanking  God 
that  they  are  not  like  the  poor  publicans  who  go 
to  Sunday-school  and  prayer-meeting,  and  seek  the 
salvation  of  their  souls.  Full  of  self-righteous- 
ness, they  pay  an  occasional  small  sum  to  the  uses 
of  charity  or  even  of  religion,  but  it  is  that  they 
may  boast  of  it  for  many  days  to  come,  until  one 
might  suppose  that  they  and  not  the  Church  people 
were  really  supporting  all  the  helpful  institutions, 
philanthropic  and  Christian.  At  times,  also,  they 
are  forced  by  circumstances  and  by  very  shame  to 
say  some  good  word  of  the  Church,  but  they  do 
this  with  a  critical  discrimination  and  with  a  con- 
descension which  does  not  fail  to  give  to  themselves 
the  place  of  superiority  in  judgment  and  virtue. 
The  Church  has  few  hypocrites.  The  dues  and 
duties  come  too  regularly ;  the  expectation  of  purity 
of  speech  and  of  conduct  is  too  evident;  the  atti- 
tude, even  of  sinners,  towards  those  who  use  re- 
ligion as  a  cloak,  is  very  unpleasant.  They  rapidly 
weed  themselves  out  and  plant  themselves  in  less 
exacting  associations. 


Following  up  Results  129 

Weak  members  of  the  Church  are  of  an  alto- 
gether different  nature.  They  are  sincere  in  their 
profession  of  love  for  Christ.  They  honestly  be- 
lieve in  Christianity,  and  have  been  converted.  But 
they  are  ignorant  of  many  teachings  of  the  Bible, 
and  are  defective  in  their  own  conceptions  of  right. 
Often  they  are  feeble  in  will,  as  well  as  imperfect 
in  knowledge,  and  having  to  contend  both  with 
inherited  appetites  for  evil  and  with  the  habits  of 
past  years,  they  make  poor  work  of  serving  God. 
They  have  their  ups  and  downs,  and  it  is  fortunate, 
indeed,  if  they  do  not  have  their  ins  and  outs.  They 
are  of  various  degrees  of  consciousness  of  their 
condition.  But  even  when,  as  is  often  the  case, 
they  realize  that  they  are  very  imperfect  follow- 
ers of  Christ,  and  wish  they  were  as  strong  as  they 
are  weak,  they  hardly  know  what  to  do.  They 
need  advice  from  those  who  have  passed  through 
the  same  experience.  They  need  the  encourage- 
ment of  more  vigorous  wills,  as  well  as  of  better 
intelligence  than  their  own.  They  need  a  com- 
panionship which  will  be  both  grateful  and  power- 
ful, exercising  its  influence  in  the  direction  of  a 
better  Christian  life.  By  these  means  they  may 
be  brought  into  a  stability  of  character  and  into  a 
sturdiness  of  good  conduct  which,  at  length,  will 
make  it  seem  surprising  that  they  could  ever  have 


130  Every-Day  Evangelism 

been  so  frail.  Who  is  to  help  these  helpless  ones? 
Who  but  the  Church.  But  the  Church,  as  a  whole, 
can  not  focus  itself  upon  one  individual,  and  the 
individual  units  of  whom  the  Church  is  composed 
are  apt  to  lose  themselves  in  the  presence  of  the 
many  who  require  aid.  Good  intentions,  multiplied 
into  many  fleeting  impressions  of  duty,  and  into 
many  kindly  compassions,  effect  little.  Even  the 
weakest  and  faintest-hearted  are  left  to  work  out 
iheir  own  salvation,  receiving  small  portion  of  that 
good  which  is  especially  to  be  done  to  the  house- 
hold of  faith,  and  bearing  without  assistance  their 
burdens  of  temptation. 

The  survival  not  only  of  the  fittest,  but  also 
of  the  unfit,  is  said  to  be  the  law  of  Christianity, 
but  practice  is  too  often  at  variance  with  this  prin- 
ciple. If,  however,  the  Church  will  maintain  and 
use  a  department  of  personal  work,  taught  to 
think  of  the  salvation  of  others  as  well  as  of  them- 
selves, and  trained  in  methods  of  influence,  this  in- 
consistency will,  to  a  great  degree,  cease,  and  those 
who  have  been  perhaps  for  many  years  upon  the 
rolls,  but  who  are  well  known  to  be  under  the  sway 
of  old  associations,  addicted  to  bad  habits,  or  of  low 
spirituality  and  slight  attachment  to  the  flock  of 
Christ,  will  be  made  the  subjects  of  an  unobtrusive 
but  firm  endeavor  to  increase  their  strength. 


Following  up  Results  131 

One  of  the  figures  by  which  the  Christian  life 
is  set  forth  in  the  New  Testament  is  that  of  a 
race.  It  is  a  good  illustration,  and  the  adjuration 
of  St.  Paul,  "So  run  that  ye  may  obtain,"  is  for- 
ever timely.  But  material  figures  of  spiritual  truth 
break  down  when  they  are  made  to  go  on  all  fours. 
The  Christian  life  is  not  a  race  in  which,  though 
many  run,  the  prize  is  to  be  given  to  one  only.  It 
is  a  contest  r .  which  one's  adversary  is  not  his 
fellow-runner,  and  in  which  there  is  a  crown  for  all. 
And  I  take  it  he  is  surest  to  win  who  not  only 
himself  contests,  but  who  coaches  and  encourages 
his  friends,  helping  them  up  if  they  fall,  and  even, 
if  need  be,  dragging  them  along  by  his  side.  Let 
at  least  some  portion  of  the  Church  be  brought  to 
appreciate  the  beauty  and  glory  of  this  work,  and 
to  give  to  its  accomplishment  their  united  thought 
and  care,  and  out  of  the  spirit  of  their  labor  and 
from  its  reproduction  in  others  will  grow  a  new 
and  loving  fraternity  of  which  even  Christ  Him- 
self will  not  be  ashamed. 


CHAPTER  IX 

REFLEX  INFLUENCES 

There  is  an  old  Sanskrit  proverb  that  "He 
who  sows  corn,  reaps  holiness."  If  it  be  true  that 
industry  and  honor  in  the  common  tasks  of  life 
are  the  foundation  of  character,  how  much  more 
certain  is  it  that  Christian  service  Christianizes 
him  who  engages  in  it. 

"Men  make  work,"  said  Mr.  Drummond,  "but 
work  makes  men.  A  workshop  is  not  a  place  for 
making  machinery ;  it  is  a  place  for  making  souls, 
for  fitting  the  virtues  to  one's  life."^  That  is  the 
reason  why  a  Church  ought  to  be  a  workshop,  and 
not  a  parlor.  If  its  members  are  ever  to  possess 
the  qualities  of  Christ,  this  salvation  must  be 
wrought  out  in  serving  God.  But  it  is  the  effort 
we  make  for  the  salvation  of  others  which  most 
develops  Christllkeness.  Dante  is  represented  as 
saying  of  his  supreme  achievement,  "The  labors  of 
this  work  have  made  me  lean."    But  spiritual  lean- 


1 "  Life  of  Henry  Drummond,"  G.  A.  Smith,  p. 
132 


Reflex  Influences  133 

ness  does  not  come  from  striving  to  bring  Christ 
into  the  lives  of  men,  which  is  the  highest  act  of 
Christian  usefulness.  Barrenness  of  soul  is  the 
fruit  of  indifference  to  the  welfare  of  the  unsaved, 
not  of  devotion  to  their  good. 

The  effects  of  personal  work  are  marked,  not 
only  upon  individuals  who  take  part  in  it,  but 
through  them  upon  the  Church  as  a  whole.  It  is  well 
known  that  teachers  learn  by  imparting,  that  the 
artist  improves  both  in  skill  and  in  ideals  by  the 
practice  of  his  art,  that  the  act  of  building  creates 
architects,  masons,  carpenters,  brickmakers,  iron- 
workers, and  taskers  at  every  trade  involved.  So 
is  it  with  the  business  of  winning  souls;  one  sure 
success  of  it  is  the  worker's  improvement.  With 
grateful  recognition  he  soon  comes  to  acknowledge 
that  God  has  done  much  for  him  in  leading  him  to 
this  service. 

"This  my  reward,  development 
From  what  I  am, — to  what  thou  art 
By  deeds  reflexive,  done  in  love.*' 

The  Church  which  encourages  personal  work 
soon  finds  that  there  is  large  gain  to  its  own  life. 
This  service  can  not  long  be  rendered  without 
prayerf ulness.  There  will  be  a  new  sense  and  spirit 
of  worship  in  the  congregation.  Social  meetings 
will  take  on  a  new  note.    Formality  will  die  out  of 


134  Every-Day  Evangelism 

thanksgivings  and  petitions.  Prayer  will  be 
prayer,  not  recitation,  and  how  much  this  means 
to  the  inner  life  of  the  Church  no  one  can  meas- 
ure. It  is  when  the  Church  prays,  that  victories  are 
won.  "More  things  are  wrought  by  prayer  than 
this  world  dreams  of."  If  it  were  asked  what  one 
thing  would  give  greatest  power  to  Christianity  in 
all  of  its  branches  and  assemblies,  no  better  reply 
could  be  made  than  this.  Strong  confidence  and  in- 
terest in  the  practice  of  God's  presence  and  in  the 
results  of  waiting  upon  Him.  The  way  to  get 
this  is  to  begin  to  pray  for  souls.  The  reason  that 
in  not  a  few  instances  prayer  becomes  monotonous 
and  ceases,  is  that  it  is  used  for  selfish  ends  and 
for  objects  of  little  worth.  Let  it  be  related  to 
great  issues  and  to  eternal  destinies,  let  it  be  felt 
that  the  lives  of  our  friends  depend  upon  it,  and 
that  by  its  use  mighty  forces,  human  and  divine, 
may  be  brought  to  unite  for  their  redemption,  and 
it  fires  the  heart  and  the  lips  tremble  with  its  surg- 
ing passion. 

If  they  work  and  pray,  they  give.  Remark 
has  been  made  upon  the  freedom  with  which  some 
Church  members  sustain  secular  causes  and  socie- 
ties, as  compared  with  their  support  of  the  gospel 
and  the  institutions  of  Christianity.  Very  likely 
they  have  been  called  upon  to  bear  some  part  of 


Reflex  Influences  135 

the  responsibility  connected  with  the  former,  while 
as  they  have  done  nothing  for  the  latter,  their 
hearts  are  not  touched  when  appeals  are  made.  A 
form  of  baptism  which  takes  hold  of  the  pocket- 
book  is  work,  especially  if  it  be  of  that  personal 
character  which  opens  the  fountains  of  love  and 
good-will.  Genuine  prayer  has  the  same  effect. 
When  bazaars  and  shows  fail  to  provide  sufficient 
revenue  to  run  the  Church,  try  prayer.  It  awakens 
conscience,  deepens  the  sense  of  obligation,  and 
quickens  the  functions  of  generosity. 

As  a  rule,  people,  and  especially  business  men, 
are  ready  to  support  institutions  which  are  doing 
things.  They  want  results.  They  expect  all 
agents  of  professed  values  to  "deliver  goods." 
Therefore,  a  Church  which  is  manifestly  alive  to  its 
supreme  duty,  and  making  accessions  to  the  num- 
ber who  follow  Christ,  will  be  sustained  liberally, 
both  by  those  who  are  in  its  active  ranks,  and  by 
those  who  have  confidence  in  its  value  to  society. 
Such  a  Church  will  not  need  to  be  a  beggar, 
going  to  the  world  with  outstretched  hand,  appeal- 
ing for  charity.  It  will  be  self-respecting  and  self- 
sustaining,  so  that  when  outsiders  make  donations 
to  its  enterprises  they  will  do  so,  not  on  the  basis 
of  necessity,  but  in  recognition  of  value,  and  with 
the   thought  that   they   are   privileged   in   being 


136  Every-Day  Evangelism 

permitted  to  aid  an  institution  whose  work  is  re- 
demptive. A  little  handful  of  Christians  built  up 
a  numerous  congregation  and  in  a  few  years  were 
housed  in  a  splendid  temple  of  worship,  simply 
because  it  became  evident  to  a  large  section  of  a 
great  city  that  they  were  re-creating  character  and 
changing  the  complexion  of  the  life  about  them. 
Every-day  evangelism  by  personal  work  is  itself 
a  witness  of  Christ,  and  it  makes  a  witnessing 
Church.  Public  testimony  is  a  burden  when  there 
is  little  to  say,  but  this  is  never  true  of  those  who 
frequently  converse  with  their  friends  and  asso- 
ciates about  the  Christian  life.  The  wisdom  of 
winning  lives  drives  one  to  the  Bible,  and  knowl- 
edge of  the  Scriptures,  gained  for  such  a  purpose, 
equips  one  for  any  expression  of  religious  truth. 
There  is  also  a  spirit  of  testimony  which  comes 
with  the  deed,  and  if  this  is  gained  in  private  it 
will  be  exercised  in  public.  Many  incidents  occur 
in  personal  work,  and  many  sayings  are  heard, 
which  one  can  not  easily,  upon  suitable  occasions, 
refrain  from  passing  on  to  others.  The  members 
of  the  Gideons,  the  national  society  of  Christian 
traveling  men,  are  usually  heard  from  in  any  meet- 
ing which  they  attend,  and  they  are  very  apt  to 
enliven  the  service.  The  earnestness  which  they 
display,  and  the  ability  which  many  of  them  have 


Reflex  Influences  137 

to  stir  up  the  audience  which  they  address,  is  due  to 
their  constant  practice  of  talking  religion  to  their 
fellow-travelers.  It  is  their  experience  frequently 
to  receive  hard  knocks,  and  they  may  learn  to 
give  them.  It  is  said  that  they  sometimes  "knock" 
in  their  prayer-meeting  testimonies,  but  in  most 
instances  they  do  good,  and  leave  the  pastor  wish- 
ing that  his  own  members  had  the  vigor,  readiness 
of  speech  and  knowledge,  both  of  human  life  and 
of  the  Word  of  God,  which  such  visitors  have  dis- 
played. This  will  be  the  case  when  they  are  led 
to  train  in  the  same  school  of  service.  There  are 
few  dull  class-meetings,  prayer-meetings,  covenant 
or  consecration  meetings  in  a  Church  containing  a 
large  proportion  of  people  who  daily  seek  to  bring 
others  to  acccept  Christ. 

Those  who  are  interested  in  evangelism  at  home 
will  not  need  to  be  persuaded  of  the  value  of  for- 
eign missions.  The  movement  for  world-wide  evan- 
gelization has  no  better  friends  than  are  personal 
workers  generally.  The  work  of  Christ  is  felt  by 
them  to  be  the  same,  whether  it  be  done  in  the  tem- 
perate zone  or  in  the  tropics;  whether  on  one  side 
of  the  sea  or  on  the  other;  whether  in  the  mother 
tongue  or  in  strange  languages.  They  give  of 
their  means  and  of  their  prayers.  They  encourage 
every  undertaking  which  seems  likely  to  increase 


138  Every-Day  Evangelism 

general  information,  to  win  converts,  or  to  develop 
liberality.  There  is  a  reciprocal  relation  in  this 
matter.  Evangelism  has  affinity  for  missions, 
understands  its  problem,  and  holds  itself,  to  a  great 
extent,  responsible  for  its  success.  On  the  other 
hand,  missions  are  very  influential  in  strengthening 
the  spirit  which  must  labor  for  the  lost.  So  that, 
almost  without  exception,  a  missionary  Church  is 
evangelistic,  and  'per  contra  an  evangelistic  ChurcK 
is  always  zealous  for  the  extension  of  the  kingdom 
of  God.  If  we  could  get  all  Christendom  busy 
preaching  Christ,  what  missionary  meetings  and 
offerings  would  be  seen,  and  how  swiftly  the  life- 
blood  of  the  Church  would  flow  out,  even  to  the 
extremities  of  the  earth. 

Personal  work  is  a  promoter,  not  a  hinderer,  of 
revivals,  philanthropies,  and  reforms.  It  may  be 
used  by  theorists  as  an  excuse  for  not  engaging  in 
excellent  and  timely  undertakings  of  such  a  char- 
acter, but  this  is  rarely  true  of  those  who  practice 
it.  In  their  great  task  they  come  to  feel  the  need 
of  every  form  of  aid.  While  they  seek  for  them- 
selves and  for  the  Church  that  there  may  be  a  con- 
tinuous life,  which  does  not  need  reviving,  but 
refreshing  and  deepening,  they  pray  daily  for  a 
sweeping  visitation  when  the  masses  shall  turn  to 
God. 


Reflex  Influences  139 

Daily  evangelism  comes  in  contact  with  civic 
and  industrial  problems,  and  while  confident  that 
man  creates  his  environment,  and  not  environment 
the  man,  yet  believes  that  education,  cleanliness, 
and  good  housing  have  their  effect  upon  human 
conduct,  and  should  be  encouraged.  And,  of 
course,  no  one  can  seek  to  win  lives  to  the  Chris- 
tian faith  and  service  who  does  not  very  quickly 
discover  that  the  passions  and  appetites  of  the 
world  stand  in  his  way.  He  comes  to  abhor  the 
saloon,  the  club,  the  dance  hall,  the  theater,  the 
lodge,  and  every  social  institution  to  the  exact 
degree  to  which  he  finds  that  it  exerts  any  immoral 
or  anti-Christian  influence  over  those  whom  he  is 
seeking  to  reach,  and  in  accordance  with  the  char- 
acter of  each  of  these,  he  opposes  it,  or  seeks  its 
improvement.  One  thing  Christianity  has  not  yet 
well  learned,  is  that  evil  or  questionable  institutions 
are  most  effectively  opposed  by  the  substitution  of 
something  better.  This  wisdom  comes  slowly,  and 
its  application  is  expensive,  but  the  principle,  when 
sensibly  tested.  Has  always  been  found  to  hold 
good.  The  modern  Church-home  or  parish-house, 
with  club  features,  intellectual  and  physical  bene- 
fits, and  Christian  fellowship,  is  one  of  the  remedial 
measures  which  seems  adapted  to  meet  some  of  the 
needs  of  city  life.     The  various  Church  societies 


140  Every-Day  Evangelism 

of  men  and  boys,  of  girls  and  women,  of  various 
classes  and  guilds,  are  attempts  to  counteract  the 
evil  influences  of  the  unchristian  community,  and 
the  most  devout  evangelist  and  seeker  of  the  indi- 
vidual heart  may  very  wisely  study  and  assist  all 
such  movements,  as  in  most  instances  he  is  very 
quick  to  do. 

One  of  the  surest  returns  from  a  continuous 
effort  to  lead  men  to  Christ  is  an  increasing  spirit 
of  love.  The  love  of  God  grows  by  its  exercise, 
and  one  can  not  exert  himself  in  any  form  of  help- 
fulness to  men  without  becoming  more  humane  and 
catholic  in  sympathy.  Above  all,  to  seek  the  sal- 
vation of  individuals,  one  at  a  time  and  for  pro- 
longed periods  of  time,  both  requires  love  and 
produces  it.  One  may,  it  is  true,  take  up  personal 
evangelism  hastily  and  without  much  affection,  but 
one  of  two  alternatives  will  very  speedily  result; 
either  he  will  fall  in  love  with  the  work  and  with 
the  subjects  of  it,  or  he  will  let  the  undertaking 
drop  for  something  less  taxing  upon  mind  and 
heart. 

The  great  need  is  love.  The  Church  is  intended 
to  be  a  company  of  kindred  spirits  bound  to  each 
other  not  merely  by  one  faith,  but  by  a  common 
service,  and  by  links  forged  in  mutual  helpful- 
ness.   My  own  observation  is  that,  while  in  purely 


Reflex  Influences  141 

social  undertakings  there  is  abundant  opportunity 
for  ambitions,  rivalries,  jealousies,  and  general 
misunderstandings,  the  effort  to  win  lives  for  Christ 
seems  to  allay  such  manifestations  of  selfishness, 
and  to  create  a  spirit  of  mutual  respect  and  affec- 
tion. If  one's  thought  is  on  this  most  important 
of  all  forms  of  Christian  endeavor,  there  is  neither 
time  nor  inclination  for  fault-finding,  for  differ- 
ences about  offices,  or  for  disputes  about  details  of 
Church  management.  The  individual  fisher  of  men 
is  loyal  to  Church  and  pastor,  gentle,  and  easily 
pleased.  The  membership  department  may  be  re- 
lied upon  to  help  to  keep  sweet  and  to  sweeten  the 
life  of  the  whole  society.  As  success  comes  to  the 
effort  to  draw  in  new  converts,  and  to  strengthen 
and  develop  weak  members  of  the  body  of  Christ, 
very  precious  ties  are  formed  between  helpers  and 
those  whom  they  have  helped,  deepening  the  mystic 
force  which  unites  the  inner  circle.  What  better 
thing  could  happen  to  any  Church  than  to  have  in 
it  many  people  who  are  looked  upon  by  some  of 
their  fellow-members  as  those  who  brought  them 
into  Christian  fellowship,  restored  them  from  back- 
sliding, or  led  them  into  a  deeper  experience  or  a 
new  activity  ?  And  will  not  they  who  have  rendered 
such  a  service  look  upon  the  members  whom  they 
have  helped  as  their  brothers  in  Christ,  for  whom 


142  Every-Day  Evangelism 

they  will  always  entertain  a  special  regard?  Such 
relationships  are  not  only  in  themselves  pure  and 
unselfish,  but  they  constitute  an  asset  of  the  greatest 
value  to  the  kingdom  of  God.  They  are  a  cohesive 
power  from  which  it  is  not  easy  to  separate  one's 
self.  They  are  an  inspiration,  even  enkindling  new 
affection  for  Christ  and  for  the  Church,  and  creat- 
ing a  determination  to  walk  in  the  ways  of  duty  and 
of  opportunity. 

In  its  beginnings  the  Christian  Church  was  a 
brotherhood,  and  to  this  ideal  there  seem  to  be  in- 
dications of  return.  The  purely  individualistic 
conception  of  religion  is  passing.  Each  person 
must  still  seek  and  work  out  his  own  salvation, 
striving  for  his  life's  sake  to  "enter  in  at  the 
straight  gate,"  "to  walk  worthily  of  the  Lord  unto 
all  pleasing,"  and  to  be  "faithful  unto  death,  that 
he  may  receive  a  crown  of  life."  But  we  are  learn- 
ing that  this  implies  a  union  of  purpose  and  of 
effort.  "No  man  liveth  unto  himself."  We  are 
necessary  to  each  other.  Our  own  good  we  must 
seek  and  find  in  the  good  of  our  fellow-men.  No  one 
can  be  saved  alone ;  no  one  is  a  saved  soul  if  he  has 
not  been  born  into  that  life  from  above,  which 
once  for  all,  and  always,  is  given  for  men.  With 
increasing  emphasis  this  teaching  is  uttered  in 
pulpit  and  urged  in  print.     What  is  needed  in 


Reflex  Influences  143 

order  to  make  humanity  a  great  fraternity  ?  First 
of  all,  the  fraternal  spirit  must  conquer  and  con- 
trol the  body  of  Christ.  The  members  of  this  body 
must  be  related  to  each  other  by  such  mutual  acts 
of  love  as  bind  those  who  perform  them  into  a 
living  unity,  to  be  defended  at  all  hazards  and  not 
to  be  dissevered  without  pain  and  loss.  As  the  body 
grows  and  with  effort  takes  in  new  material,  this 
must  be  assimilated  and  filled  with  the  spirit  which 
animates  the  whole.  Then  with  increased  strength 
this  process  must  be  repeated,  until  at  length  the 
entire  race  becomes  the  body  of  Christ,  and  there 
dawns  the  day  of  Christian  brotherhood,  of  uni- 
versal peace  and  good-will,  of  the  realized  kingdom 
of  God. 

Is  this  a  dream  .^  It  is  the  dream  of  the  Son 
of  man,  of  the  Seer  of  Galilee,  of  Heavenly  Love. 
Is  there  any  corresponding  reality  .^^  The  Church 
has  many  members  who  are  not  brothers,  who  do 
not  respond  to  the  inner  obligations  and  opportuni- 
ties of  the  Christian  life,  and  who  exploit  the  world 
outside  for  their  own  advantage  with  as  little  re- 
gard for  human  rights  and  needs  as  the  law  per- 
mits. There  are  also  many  members  who  are  inert, 
dormant,  anaemic,  loveless;  they  do  not  strengthen 
or  add  to  the  body  of  Christ ;  they  retard  its  growth 
and  delay  its  great  conquest.     But  a  membership 


144  Every-Day  Evangelism 

of  another  kind  is  found  in  the  Church.  It  is  the 
living  tissue  of  the  body ;  its  veins  pulsate  the  blood 
of  the  Crucified;  its  heart  is  warm  with  Calvary's 
supreme  passion;  it  is  exerting  power  within  and 
without  the  limits  of  Christendom.  It  is  this  mem- 
bership whose  increase  is  the  hope  of  the  world 
and  the  leaven  of  its  society,  and  it  is  recruited 
from  the  ranks  of  those  who  are  led  into  Christian 
activity.  Those  who  have  ever  held  in  their  arms  a 
child  of  their  very  own,  do  not  need  to  be  told 
what  love  and  holy  purpose  comes  that  moment 
surging  into  the  heart.  There  is  nothing  whose 
transforming  influence  is  so  powerful,  unless  it  be 
the  experience  of  saving  a  life  which  is  en- 
dangered. How  the  soul  leaps  into  a  new  being 
with  even  the  attempt  to  rescue  one  who  is  in  peril ! 
Both  of  these  great  inspirations  come  to  those  who 
are  drawn  into  personal  work.  The  lives  which 
they  lead  to  Christ,  or  restore  from  the  mortal 
hazards  of  their  backslidings,  bring  to  them  not 
only  joy,  but  a  high  determination  to  win  others 
from  sin  and  to  give  their  best  powers  to  the  uses 
of  God's  kingdom.  Let  every  effort  be  made  to 
bring  all  Christians  into  this  service,  for  they  who 
win  souls  are  enlarged  within  and  become  creators 
of  the  great  Future. 


CHAPTER  X 
TOPICS  AND  OUTLINES 

The  following  topics  and  brief  sketches  of 
addresses  have  been  used  in  teaching  work  of  the 
kind  described  in  this  book.  As  has  already  been 
remarked,  they  are  offered  merely  as  illustrations. 
Other  themes  and  other  combinations  of  those 
named  will  probably  be  just  as  useful.  As  to  sub- 
divisions of  a  topic,  it  is  far  better  for  one  to  make 
his  own  than  to  depend  on  any  which  are  made  to 
hand.  But  there  is  no  copyright  on  any  thought 
which  may  be  adopted  from  others  and  which  may 
be  helpfully  employed  in  making  one's  own  out- 
line. These  topics  have  been  selected  with  a  view 
to  variety,  and  they  are  intended  for  use  at  monthly 
meetings  of  membership  workers. 

Instruction   Themes, 
Series  I. 
I.     Why  Should  Christians  Seek  the  Conver- 
sion of  Others.? 
10  145 


146  Every-Day  Evangelism 

II.     How  to  Win  Others  to  the  Christian  Life. 

III.  The  Use  of  the  Bible  in  Personal  Work. 
IV.     Qualifications  for  Success  in  Leading  our 

Friends  to  Christ. 
V.     How  to  Begin  a  Life-winning  Effort. 
VI.     Helps  to  be  Obtained  in  Seeking  the  Salva- 
tion of  Others. 
VII.     Scriptural   Examples   of   Personal   Work. 
VIII.     Famous    Soul-winners    and    What    They 
Teach  Us. 
IX.     Difficulties  to  be  Overcome  in  Seeking  the 
Lost. 
X.     Co-operation  in  Bringing  Men  to  Christ. 

Series  II. 

I.  Why  Are  Not  All  Men  Christians? 

II.  Why  Are  Many  Christians  Inactive? 
III.  The  Profits  of  Personal  Work. 

IV.  How   to   Increase   the   Number   of    Soul- 

winners. 

V.  Recruiting  the  Ranks  of  Church  Workers. 

VI.  What  Shall  Be  Done  for  the  Backslidden? 

VII.  How  to  Increase  Church  Attendance. 

VIII.  The  Boy  and  the  Church. 

IX.  Invitations  and  Welcomes. 

X.  The  Reflexes  of  Personal  Work. 


Topics  and  Outlines  147 

Series  III. 
General  Topic — Personal  Evangelism. 

I.  Its  Need.  VII.     Its    Hardest 

II.  Its  Aims.  Tasks. 

III.     Its  Methods.  VIII.     Its    Encourage- 

IV.     Its  Spirit.  ments. 

V.  Its  Aids.  IX.     Its  Failures. 

VI.  Its  Best  Exam-  X.     Its  Friendships. 

pies. 

Series  IV. 
The  topics  given  here  are  selected  from  those 
used  by  Mr.  Spurgeon  in  addresses  to  his  people,  to 
young  preachers,  to  Sunday-school  workers  and 
others,  and  which  are  collected  in  his  book,  "The 
Soul  Winner." 

I.     What  Is  It  to  Win  a  Soul? 

II.  Qualifications     for     Soul-winning  —  God- 

ward. 

III.  Qualifications     for     Soul-winning  —  Man- 

ward. 
IV.     Obstacles  to  Soul-winning. 
V.     How  to  Raise  the  Dead. 

VI.  The  Cost  of  Being  a  Soul-winner. 

VII.  The  Soul-winner's  Reward. 

VIII.     The  Soul-winner's  Life  and  Work. 
IX.     Soul-saving  Our  One  Business. 
X.     Encouragement  to  Soul-winners. 


148  Every-Day  Evangelism 

Series  V. 
Topics  Based  on  Scripture  Texts. 
I.     Wisdom  in  Soul-winning — Proverbs  xi,  30. 
II.     Fishers  of  Men — Matthew  iv,  19. 
III.     Beginning  at  Home — John  i,  41. 
IV.     Bringing  the  Children  to   Christ — Ephe- 
sians  vi,  4. 
V.     The  Wide  Field— Mark  xvi,  15. 
VI.     The  Divine  Example — Luke  xix,  10. 
VII.     The    Passion    for    Souls  —  1    Corinthians 
ix,  22. 
VIII.     An  Instance  of  Continuous  Evangelism — 
Acts  ii,  47. 
IX.     The    Results    of    Converting   a    Sinner — 
James  v,  20. 
X.     The  Joy  of  Reaping — Psalms  cxxvi,  6. 

Series  VI. 

Studies  of  the  following  Scriptural  examples 
of  personal  work  could  hardly  help  being  most 
profitable  to  any  company  of  Christians: 

I.     Personal  Influence  Used  for  Christ — 

John  i,  35-39. 
II.     The  Consecration  of  Human  Ties — 

John  i,  40-42. 
III.     Seeking  a  Good  Man's  Conversion — 

John  i,  43-46. 


Topics  and  Outlines  149 

IV.     Explaining  the  Way  of  Life — 

John  iii,  1-21. 
V.     Teaching  the  Outcast — John  iv,  5-26. 
VI.     A  Grateful  Woman's  Work- 
John  iv,  28-42. 
VII.     The  Winning  of  an  Ethiopian — 

Acts  viii,  26-39. 
VIII.     A  Soul-winner's  Great  Commission — 

Acts   ix,   10-22. 
IX.     Riverside  Sowing — Acts  xvi,  12-15. 
X.     The  Use  of  a  Crisis— Acts  xvi,  25-33. 

Series  VII. 

The  following  topics  need  not  be  treated  from 
a  purely  intellectual  standpoint.  There  is  room 
for  much  psychological  study  on  the  part  of  Chris- 
tian workers,  but  the  teaching  of  a  general  class 
should  never  be  technical,  but  simple  and  feeling. 
"With  the  heart  man  believeth  unto  righteousness." 

I.     Preparation  of  Mind  for  Exerting  Chris- 
tian Influence. 
II.     The  Study  of  the  Humanities. 

III.  Types  of  Mind  to  be  Met  with  in  Personal 

Work. 

IV.  Effects  of  Our  Attitudes  of  Mind  Upon 

Others. 


150  Every-Day  Evangelism 

V.  The  Power  of  Suggestion. 

VI.  Motives  which  Tend  Christward. 

VII.  What  One  Must  Know  to  Become  a  Chris- 
tian. 

VIII.  Christ's  Psychological  Methods. 

IX.  Knowledge  and  Character. 

X.  Knowledge  and  Love. 

Series  VIII. 

The  following  themes  are  taken  from  the  chap- 
ter titles  of  Dr.  R.  A.  Torrey's  book,  "How  to 
Bring  Men  to  Christ:" 

I.     General  Conditions  of  Success. 
II.     How  to  Begin. 
III.     Dealing  with  the  Indifferent  or  Careless. 
IV.     Dealing  with  Those  Who  are  Anxious  to 
be  Saved,  but  do  not  Know  How. 
V.     Dealing  with  Those  Who  Have  Difficulties. 
VI.     Dealing  with  Those  Who  Entertain  False 
Hopes. 
VII.     Dealing  with  Professed  Skeptics  and  In- 
fidels. 
VIII.     Dealing  with  Those  Who  wish  to  Put  Off 
Decision. 
IX.     Dealing  with  the  Willful  and  the  Deluded. 
X.     Hints  and  Suggestions. 


Topics  and  Outlines  151 

Series  IX. 

This  list  of  topics  is  taken  from  chapter  titles 
of  the  book,  "Catching  Men,"  by  J.  P.  Brushing- 
ham,  D.  D.,  and  other  writers : 

I.     The  Power  of  Prayer  in  Soul-winning. 
II.     Child  Evangelism. 
III.     Decision  Day. 
IV.     Remarkable  Conversions. 

V.     Street  Evangelism. 
VI.     Preaching  the  Evangel. 
VII.     The  Every-day  Evangelist. 
VIII.     The  Personal  Religious  Touch. 
IX.     Theory  and  Practice  in  Soul-winning. 
X.     Thoroughgoing  Evangelism. 

Series  X. 

These  themes  are  some  of  those  used  by  Charles 
L.  Goodell,  D.  D.,  in  his  work  on  "Pastoral  and 
Personal  Evangelism:" 
I.     The  Present  Call. 
II.     The  Price  of  Power. 
III.     The  Unexpected  Harvest. 
rV.     The  Yearning  Soul. 

V.     Laymen  in  Evangelism. 
VI.     The  Preparation  of  Prayer. 
VII.     Ways  of  Reaching  the  Young. 


152  Every-Day  Evangelism 

VIII.     After  Decision  Day. 
IX.     The  Development  of  Christian  Experience. 
X.     The  Evangelistic  Reward. 

Series  XI. 

From  the  titles  and  phrases  of  "Individual 
Work  for  Individuals,"  by  H.  Clay  Trumbull,  the 
following  list  is  made: 

I.  Why  is  Work  for  Single  Souls  a  Duty? 

II.  Won  to  Christ  by  a  Letter. 

III.  A  Life  Resolve  to  Do  Individual  Work. 

IV.  Speaking  to  a  Traveling  Companion. 

V.     Faithfulness  to  a  Fellow  Boarder. 

VI.  Winning  Those  Met  at  Church. 

VII.  Why  is  Personal  Work  so  Neglected? 

VIII.  Influence  on  Others  of  Personal  Conviction. 

IX.  The  Spiritual  Telephone — Prayer. 
X.     Sharpshooters  at  Single  Individuals. 

Series  XII. 

The  following  are  suggested  in  Dr.  Cuyler's 
'^Campaigning    for   Christ,"    and    in    the    "Great 
Commission,"  by  Wentworth  F.  Stewart: 
I.     Pivot  Battles. 
II.     God  as  a  Rewarder. 
III.     Fruitful  Christians. 


Topics  and  Outlines  153 

rV.  Jesus  Christ  for  Everybody. 

V.  The  Problem  of  Indifference. 

VI.  A  Life-Giving  Gospel  Demands   a  Life- 
Saving  Church. 

VII.  Power  for  Service. 

Vni.  Take  Christ  to  Men. 

IX.  Abiding  Evangelism. 

X.  The  All-Commanding  Commission. 

Outlines  of  Addresses. 

Only  a  few  of  these  are  presented,  since  it  is 
better  as  a  rule  for  the  teacher  to  make  his  own 
sketch  for  each  talk  which  he  gives.  Of  course,  if 
one  uses  the  whole  outline  of  another,  or  a  large 
part  of  it,  he  will  give  credit. 

Whi/  Christians  Should  Seek  the  Conversion  of 
Others, 

I.     Jesus  did  This. — ^Luke  xix,  10. 
II.     He  commanded  His  followers  to  evangelize 
the  world. — Matt,  xxviii,  19,  20. 
III.     We  are  moved  by  respect  and  by  affection 

for  Christ.— a  Cor.  v,  11,  14,  20. 
IV.     Divine  mercy  and  grace  deserve  this  re- 
turn.—Psa.  li,  12,  13. 
V.     The  condition  of  the  unsaved  appeals  to 
us. — Eph.  ii,  12. 


154  Every- Day  Evangelism 

VI.     In  this  way  great  good  is  brought  to  men. 
— Jas.  V,  W. 
VII.     Christ  is  our  fellow-laborer  in  tliis  work. — 
Mark  xvi,  20. 

Preparation  Needed  for  Personal  Work, 

I.     A  true  and  deep  personal  experience. 
II.     A  good  working  knowledge  of  God's  Word. 
III.     A  study  of  biographies  of  great  personal 

workers. 
IV.     Reading  the  literature  about  this  service, 
accounts  of  revivals,  and  especially  illus- 
trations of  hand-to-hand  work   in  the 
field  of  every-day  evangelism. 
V.     Prayer. 

1.  For  the  right  spirit. 

2.  For  guidance  to  the  right  person. 

3.  For  wisdom  as  to  speech,  methods, 

and  securing  assistance. 

4.  For  help,  by  the  Spirit's  presence  in 

my  own  heart  and  in  the  heart  of 
the  one  for  whom  I  am  working. 

Methods  of  Reaching  Souls. 

I.     The   prayer  method,   which  is   often  the 
most  direct  way  to  the  unsaved. 


Topics  and  Outlines  155 

IL  The  use  of  literature,  tracts,  papers,  books ; 
always  to  be  wisely  chosen  and  attractive 
in  appearance. 

III.  Correspondence.     The  method  for  distance 

and  chance  shots. 
rV.     Direct  approach  is: 

1.  The    method    usually    employed    by 

Christ. 

2.  Is  the  most  personal  and  magnetic 

appeal. 

3.  In  multiplied  instances  succeeds. 

Co-Operation  in  Reaching  Men, 

I.     Importance  of  Personal  Workers*  Bands. 
Mutual  information  and  inspiration. 
II.     United  Prayer. 
III.     Securing  the  aid  of  others  who  have  influ- 
ence. 

1.  Pastor. 

2.  Sunday-school  teachers. 

3.  Relatives. 

4.  Friends. 

5.  Business  associates. 

Natural  leaders   and  key   spirits   to 
be  considered. 

IV.  Assistance  without  interference. 


156  Every-Day  Evangelism 

V.     Going  together.    Illustrations  of  combined 
influence. 

Types  of  Mind  Met  in  Every-day  Evangelism, 

I.     Importance  of  studying  human  nature. 
II.     Varieties  of  mind  due  to: 

1.  Disposition. 

2.  Early  training. 

3.  Education. 

4.  Environment. 

5.  Life  experiences. 
III.     How  to  deal  with : 

1.  The  timid. 

2.  The  doubtful. 

3.  The  indifferent. 

4.  The  prejudiced. 

5.  The  stubborn. 

6.  The  bitter  and  hostile. 

rV.     The   gospel   adaptable   to   every   type   of 
mind  and  life. 
V.     The   universal    secret    of    success    is    love 
which  persists. 

Weak  Christians  and  How  They  Are  Made  Strong. 

I.     The  weakness  of  Christ's  disciples  a  great 
evil. 
II.     Causes  of  low  spiritual  states. 


Topics  and  Outlines  157 

III.     The  divine  remedy. 
IV.     How  may  we  bring  our  fellow  Christians 

into  a  better  experience  ? 

1.  By  charity  and  sympathy. 

S.  By  the  strength  and  attractiveness  of 
our  own  consecration. 

3.  By   kindly   instruction   and  sugges- 

tion. 

4.  By  enlisting  them  in  some  congenial 

Christian  work. 

5.  By   the  offices   of  prayer  and  true 

friendship. 
V.     The  great  power  of  a  Church  made  strong 
in  all  of  its  members. 

Old  Church  Letters, 

I.     The  large  number  of  former  members  not 

now  in  Church  connection. 

II.     The  evil  effect  of  this  fact  upon  the  persons 

themselves   and   upon   the  kingdom  of 

Christ. 

III.     Reasons  for  dormant  Church  membership. 

1.  Love  grown  cold. 

2.  Sin  in  the  Hfe. 

3.  Neglect  of  transferring  membership 

when  moving. 


158  Every-Day  Evangelism 

4.  Timidity  and  sense  of  strangeness  in 

a  new  place  of  residence. 

5.  Church  tramping. 

6.  Lack    of    attention    from    Christian 

neighbors  and  from  Churches. 

7.  Misunderstanding    of    the    financial 

requirements  of  city  Churches. 
IV.     How  may  these  people  be  found.? 

1.  By  a  Church  canvass. 

2.  By  watching  the  new  houses,  and  the 

changes  in  old  ones  in  our  neigh- 
borhood. 

3.  By  judicious  conversation  in  social 

gatherings. 

4.  By    meeting    and    questioning    the 

visitors  at  Church. 
V.     They  may  be  won  back,  and  the  letters 
gotten  from  the  trunk  or  from  the  dis- 
tant old  home. 

1.  By  personal  solicitation. 

2.  By    securing    the    co-operation    of 

others. 

3.  By  attention  and  kindness. 


CHAPTER  XI 
ILLUSTRATIVE  INCIDENTS 

It  is  not  as  easy  as  it  may  be  thought  to  find 
authentic,  definite,  and  well  stated  accounts  of  the 
communications  which  take  place  between  the  indi- 
vidual who  presents  and  the  one  who  accepts  Christ. 
For  one  reason,  these  incidents  do  not  occur  as  often 
as  should  be  the  case ;  moreover,  the  best  messengers 
and  apostles  of  God's  grace  to  others  are  more  con- 
cerned in  the  deed  itself  than  in  its  recording.  A 
few  of  those  who  have  sought  and  gained  access 
to  the  secret  places  where  decisions  are  made  have 
taken  pains  to  preserve  notes  of  their  work.  Others 
in  public  addresses  have  related  experiences  which 
they  have  had,  and  from  reports  of  sermons  and 
meetings  such  material  may  be  gathered. 

From  various  publications  the  following  illus- 
trations of  apparently  successful  soul-winning  have 
been  culled.  Those  examples  only  have  been 
selected  in  which  some  portion  of  the  actual  con- 
versation is  preserved.  It  has  also  been  the  aim  to 
present  cases  which  have  teaching  value,  being 
159 


160  Every-Day  Evangelism 

distinguished  for  method,  manner,  timeliness,  or 
for  the  spirit  shown.  All  narratives  of  this  nature 
are  more  or  less  incomplete.  Unimportant  matters 
are  omitted  and  only  the  essential  and  vital  is  pre- 
served. As  the  Church  becomes  more  fully  con- 
vinced of  the  absolute  necessity  of  personal  every- 
day evangelism,  and  as  its  members  are  drawn  into 
this  exalted  service,  such  items  of  history  will 
increase  in  number  as  well  as  in  instructiveness. 

It  is,  of  course,  to  be  understood  that  the  head- 
ings, which  are  in  the  nature  of  comments  and  of 
commendation,  are  not  those  of  the  authors  of 
experiences  told. 

GEORGE    SOLTAU. 

An  Offer  of  Regeneration. 

A  young  man  who  had  flung  his  life  away  in 
every  form  of  sinful  indulgence  was  brought  to  me 
by  a  friend  of  his  for  a  talk  in  one  of  the  colonies. 
He  was  in  the  local  hospital,  an  incurable  case  of 
damaged  constitution, — mentally,  morally,  physic- 
ally. After  a  little  general  talk  I  said  to  him, 
"If  God  were  to  speak  to  you  audibly  and  were  to 
say  to  you,  'What  would  you  like  Me  to  do  for 
you.?'  what  would  your  answer  be?"  After  think- 
ing some  little  time,  he  said,  "I  would  ask  Him  to 
make  me  all  over  again ;  that  is  my  only  hope,  but 


Illustrative  Incidents  161 

then,  that  is  impossible."  Unconsciously  he  had 
hit  the  very  point,  and  had,  in  his  way,  said,  'Ye 
must  be  born  again.'  I  explained  to  him,  to  his 
utter  surprise,  that  what  he  said  was  the  very  thing 
I  was  authorized  to  offer  him.  At  first  he  was 
amazed,  then  he  listened,  and  bringing  up  his  dif- 
ficulties one  by  one,  he  saw  them  disappear  before 
the  presentation  of  the  truth  of  the  gift  of  the  new 
life.  After  a  talk,  in  which  he  had  a  mental 
perception  of  the  way  of  life,  we  knelt  down  that 
he  might  receive  the  new  birth.  He  confessed  Christ 
as  Lord,  as  a  convicted  lost  sinner.  In  a  very  few 
minutes  the  light  broke  in,  the  life  was  given,  the 
crisis  point  was  turned,  and  he  went  away  a  new 
creature  in  Christ  Jesus. 

From  "The  Crisis  Fact  in  Conversion,"  address 
In  Daili/  Bible,  March,  1907. 

H.  WELLINGTON  WOOD. 

Putting  the  Truth  Plainly, 

One  evening  I  was  sent  for  by  the  mother  of  a 
physician,  who  wished  me  to  talk  to  him.  He  was 
intoxicated  and  had  been  making  threats.  "Doctor, 
I  am  surprised  to  find  you  in  this  condition,"  I 
said,  when  I  saw  him.  "There  is  only  one  hope  for 
you,  and  that  is  to  depend  upon  the  Lord  to  give 
you  strength  to  overcome  this  appetite."  We  did  n't 
11 


162  Every-Day  Evangelism 

stand  on  any  ceremony,  and  I  asked  him  to  kneel 
with  me  for  prayer.  His  prayer  was  one  of  the 
best  that  I  have  ever  heard,  in  spite  of  his  condi- 
tion. When  he  arose  he  was  entirely  sober.  His 
first  word  was : 

"Mother,  I  have  been  worrying  you  almost  to 
death  with  my  conduct.  I  have  been  anything  else 
than  a  dutiful  son;  but  God  helping  me,  I  shall 
hereafter  strive  to  give  you  the  comfort  you  need." 

The  doctor  has  since  won  some  forty  souls  for 
his  Master.  He  has  been  severely  tempted  and  tried, 
but  he  is  still  trusting  in  the  Savior  who  is  able 
to  save  to  the  uttermost.  He  is  living  with  his 
mother,  from  whom  he  had  been  separated  because 
of  his  conduct.  (The  evening  when  I  was  per- 
mitted to  lead  him  to  Christ,  he  was  at  home  for  a 
visit.) 

A  Wise  Introduction. 

While  taking  lunch  with  a  friend  at  a  restau- 
rant, I  said  to  the  waitress  when  she  took  our 
order : 

"Are  you  acquainted  with  our  Friend.?" 
Of  course  she  was  surprised  till  I  explained 
that  I  referred  to  Jesus  Christ,  and  added: 

"We  want  to  recommend  Him  to  you  to-day." 
She  went  off  to  get  our  order  and  returned 


Illustrative  Incidents  163 

about  fifteen  minutes  later.  While  putting  the 
food  on  the  table,  she  told  us  that  after  she  had 
grown  to  womanhood,  careless  habits  and  indiffer- 
ent companions  had  led  her  off  and  kept  her  away 
from  God. 

While  we  were  eating,  she  said:  "I  will  take 
Jesus  Christ  as  my  Savior,  and  will  promise  you, 
before  your  friend,  that  I  will  love  Him  and  serve 
Him  and  will  join  the  Church." 

Two  weeks  later  I  was  told  that  she  had  not 
only  come  into  the  Church  herself,  but  had  brought 
her  husband  with  her,  and  that  both  became,  not 
only  workers,  but  loyal  supporters. 

A   Conversation  Artfully  Begun  and  Conducted, 

While  on  the  way  to  Canada,  I  asked  the 
porter  to  make  up  my  berth,  and  took  my  seat  for 
a  little  while  with  a  passenger,  whom  I  learned  was 
a  New  York  business  man.  After  talking  about 
the  topics  of  the  day,  I  said  to  him : 

"Well,  I  presume  you  will  retire  soon.  One 
doesn't  have  much  opportunity, — does  he.^^ — to 
kneel  down  and  thank  his  Lord  in  these  berths." 

"Thank  the  Lord !"  he  answered.  "I  hope  you 
have  gotten  beyond  that  idea!  But  from  your 
conversation,  I  judge  that  you  are  inclined  to  be 
religious." 


164  Every-Day  Evangelism 

"I  hope  the  day  will  never  come  when  I  shall 
be  too  tired  to  kneel  in  the  most  high  or  lowly 
place  to  thank  my  God,  who  supplies  all  my  needs 
according  to  His  riches  in  Christ  Jesus,"  I  said. 

"Look  here,"  was  his  next  word,  "I  do  n't  like 
to  hear  such  stuff.  I  was  once  a  member  of  the 
Church,  but  I  am  very  glad  that  I  am  outside  of 
it  to-day.  There  are  lots  of  hypocrites  in  the 
Church.  Religion  is  good  enough  for  little  chil- 
dren and  for  the  aged,  but  I  do  n't  want  any  of  it. 
I  have  been  cheated  and  defrauded  by  members  of 
the  Church,  and  now  I  dislike  the  very  name  of 
religion !" 

"For  the  sake  of  argument,"  I  said,  "I  will 
admit  that  there  are  some  people  in  the  Church 
who  do  n't  live  up  to  their  high  privileges,  but  let 
me  ask  you  questions  to  which  I  hope  you  will  give 
frank  answers.  God  has  blessed  you  with  health, 
strength,  and  vigor,  and  has  prospered  you  in 
business  and  has  kept  your  family  intact.  Now, 
do  you  think  that  you  have  been  right  in  taking 
a  stand  of  this  kind.?  Doubtless  you  have  a  bank 
in  your  town?" 

"Yes,"  he  said,  "and  I  carry  a  large  bank  ac- 
count, for  the  firm  that  I  represent  does  a  splendid 
business,  and  they  bank  considerable  money." 

"Well,"  I  continued,  "suppose  to-morrow  you 


Illustrative  Incidents  165 

go  to  your  bank  to  make  a  deposit.  The  teller,  in 
checking  up  your  slip,  discovers  a  counterfeit  five- 
dollar  bill.  Will  he  say  to  you,  Mr.  Blank,  take  all 
this  money  back ;  I  can  not  receive  it,  because  there 
is  one  counterfeit  bill  in  it.?  Or,  does  he  simply 
say,  Mr.  Blank,  I  regret  very  much  that  you  have 
received  a  counterfeit  bill  from  some  one;  I  trust 
that  you  may  be  fortunate  enough  to  discover  his 
identity.?" 

"Why,"  he  answered,  thoughtfully,  "I  see  your 
point;  he  certainly  would  do  the  latter." 

"Then,  because  the  Church  has  been  unfor- 
tunate in  receiving  into  its  membership  a  counter- 
feit, is  it  any  reason  that  you  should  condemn  the 
whole  Church.?  In  Matt,  vii,  22,  23,  we  read, 
'Many  will  say  to  me  in  that  day,  Lord,  Lord, 
have  we  not  prophesied  in  Thy  name.?  and  in  Thy 
name  have  cast  out  devils.?  and  in  Thy  name  done 
many  wonderful  works.?  And  then  will  I  [remem- 
ber, it  is  Jesus  Christ  who  speaks]  profess  unto 
them,  I  never  knew  you:  depart  from  Me,  ye  that 
work  iniquity.' 

"My  friend,  I  am  going  to  bid  you  good-night ; 
but  there  is  one  thing  you  can  not  keep  me  from 
doing.  I  am  going  into  my  berth  and  there  kneel 
and  ask  our  Heavenly  Father  to  water  the  seed 
sown  to-night." 


166  Every-Day  Evangelism 

"Well,"  he  said,  "that 's  all  right ;  you  can  do 
just  as  you  please  about  that." 

I  bade  him  good-night,  for  it  was  then  about 
twelve  o'clock.  The  next  morning  at  about  seven, 
a  friend  who  was  accompanying  me  had  risen  early 
and  was  sitting  looking  out  of  the  car  window  and 
humming  over  some  hymn  tunes.  The  gentleman 
with  whom  I  had  talked  the  night  before  asked  me 
if  he  would  lend  him  a  hymn-book.  Thus  it  hap- 
pened that  while  I  was  kneeling  in  prayer  that 
morning,  I  heard  from  the  end  of  the  car  the  words 
of  the  Glory  Song: 

"When  all  my  labors  and  trials  are  o'er 
And  I  am  safe  on  that  beautiful  shore, 
Just  to  be  near  the  dear  Lord  I  adore, 
Will  through  the  ages  be  glory  for  me." 

I  hurriedly  dressed,  and  going  down  to  the  end 
of  the  car,  said :  "Well,  friend,  how  is  it  that  you 
are  singing  that  beautiful  hymn  this  morning?" 

He  told  me  that  the  five-dollar  bill  had  kept 
him  awake  all  night;  that  the  Lord  had  visited 
him,  and  that  now  he  felt  like  a  different  man,  and 
was  going  home  and  back  into  the  Church. 

Then  we  sang  hymns  of  praise  while  we 
traveled  nearly  forty  miles.  The  porter  (who  had 
only  two  weeks  before  buried  his  wife)  came  along 
and  we  invited  him  to  join.    He  replied  very  much 


Illustrative  Incidents  167 

as  did  tlie  man  who  was  now  singing  with  me.  I 
asked  him  if  he  had  found  anybody  more  reliable 
than  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  if  he  had  not  found 
men  very  unreliable.  He  said  this  was  so.  Then 
I  told  him  the  first  convert  won  by  personal  work 
was  the  Ethiopian  eunuch. 

After  reading  some  Scripture,  we  all  knelt 
together  and  had  a  short  prayer  service,  and  the 
porter  confessed  Christ. 

"Winning  Men  One  by  One,"  copyright,  1908, 
by  H.  Wellington  Wood,  used  by  permission,  con- 
tains the  above  given  accounts. 

HARLAN   PAGE. 

Searching  Personal  Questions  Asked, 

To  a  young  lady  with  whom  he  had  become 
acquainted,  Mr.  Page,  in  successive  interviews,  put 
such  queries  as  the  following: 

"Are  you  a  professor  of  religion?"  "Have  you 
an  interest  in  Christ.'*"  "Do  you  think  an  interest 
in  Christ  desirable?"  "Have  you  sought  to  obtain 
it?"  "Have  you  renounced  the  world,  and  resolved 
to  live  for  the  glory  of  God?"  "Can  you  give  me 
a  reason  why  you  have  not?"  "The  impressions 
made  on  my  mind  by  repeated  conversations,  were 
such,"  she  said,  "that  I  could  not  rest  until  I  had 
found  rest  in  Christ." 


168  Every-Day  Evangelism 

Striking  Method  of  Awakening  Spiritual  Concern, 
To  a  young  merchant  who  seemed  not  far  from 
the  kingdom,  Mr.  Page  said :  "Have  you  a  hope?" 
"No,  sir,"  was  the  reply.  "Then,"  he  persisted, 
"I  am  to  put  down  your  name  as  having  no  hope." 
"Yes,  sir."  "Well,"  said  he,  suiting  the  action  to 
the  word,  "I  write  down  your  name  as  having  no 
hope."  The  young  man  thought  on  this  record 
of  his  spiritual  condition,  and  became  troubled.  He 
came  to  Mr.  Page  and  said:  "I  told  you  to  put 
me  down  as  having  no  hope,  but  I  can't  say  that." 
They  had  further  conversation  and  soon  the  young 
man  was  a  member  of  the  Church  and  one  of  the 
firm  supporters  of  Christian  work. 

Saving  Persistence, 

The  letter  of  a  young  clergyman,  respecting  his 
own  conversion  through  the  influence  of  Harlan 
Page,  gives  another  illustration  of  the  fidelity  and 
methods  of  this  eminent  personal  worker.  "His 
words,"  declares  the  writer,  "sank  down  deep  into 
my  heart.  They  were  strange  words,  for  though 
I  had  lived  among  professors  of  religion,  he  was 
the  first  who,  for  nine  or  ten  years,  had  taken  me 
by  the  hand  and  kindly  asked,  'Are  you  a  Chris- 
tian.? Do  you  intend  to  be  a  Christian?  Why  not 
now?'  He  gave  me  a  tract,  'Way  to  be  Saved,' 
which  deepened  my  impressions.     At  his  request  I 


Illustrative  Incidents  169 

also  attended  a  prayer-meeting  conducted  by  him, 
where  my  soul  was  bowed  down  and  groaned  under 
the  load  of  my  guilt.  At  the  close  of  the  meeting 
Mr.  Page  took  my  arm  as  we  proceeded  on  our 
way  to  our  respective  homes,  and  urged  upon  me 
the  duty  and  privilege  of  an  immediate  surrender 
of  my  heart  to  Christ.  As  we  were  about  to  part 
he  held  my  hand,  and  at  the  corner  of  the  street, 
in  a  windy  night,  stood  pleading  with  me  to  repent 
of  sin  and  submit  to  God.  I  returned  to  my  home, 
and  for  the  first  time  in  many  years  bowed  my 
knees  in  my  chamber  before  God  and  entered  into 
a  solemn  covenant  to  serve  Him  henceforth  in  and 
through  the  Gospel  of  His  Son." 

The  above  accounts  are  found  in  "Narratives 
of  Remarkable  Conversions  and  Revival  Incidents." 
— Conant. 

H.   CLAY  TRUMBULL. 

Applies  Test  for  Sincerity,  and  Explains  the 
Rights  of  Faith. 
In  the  early  evening  we  found  ourselves  at  a 
small  hotel,  where  we  were  to  rest  for  awhile.  My 
companion  was  different  from  any  one  with  whom 
I  had  ever  conversed  personally  on  the  theme  of 
themes.  He  had  not  been  while  a  child  under  the 
religious  training  and  influences  with  which  I  was 
most  familiar. 


170  Every-Day  Evangelism 

"My  friend,  would  you  like  to  be  saved?"  I 
asked  at  the  start. 

"Indeed,  I  would,"  he  replied. 

"Do  you  think  you  can  save  yourself?" 

"I  certainly  do  not,"  was  his  response. 

"Do  you  know  of  any  savior  to  be  trusted  ex- 
cept One?" 

"I  do  not,"  he  said,  heartily. 

"Well,  now,"  I  said,  "there  is  no  necessity  of 
your  reading  any  books  on  the  subject  to  learn  the 
way  of  salvation.  Let  me  see,  here  and  now,  if  you 
are  willing  to  be  saved  by  the  one  Savior  in  His 
own  way.  Understand  that  I  do  not  make  any 
conditions  or  requirements  of  conduct  or  of  prac- 
tice in  order  for  you  to  be  saved;  but  I  will  ask 
you  this  question  in  order  to  ascertain  your  atti- 
tude toward  this  whole  subject.  Suppose  that  you 
were  to  find  that  Jesus  Christ  wanted  you  to  refrain 
from  drinking,  from  smoking,  from  card-playing, 
from  theater-going,  and  from  much  that  accom- 
panies these  things,  would  you  give  them  all  up  or 
would  you  feel  that  there  were  some  of  these  tilings 
that  you  could  not  refrain  from?" 

My  friend  thought  the  matter  over  with  evident 
seriousness,  and  then  he  gave  this  intelligent 
answer : 

"Well,  Mr.  Trumbull,  there  are  some  of  those 


Illustrative  Incidents  171 

things  that  I  might  have  different  views  from  your- 
self about;  but  if  I  were  convinced  that  Jesus 
Christ  wanted  me  to  refrain  from  any  one  of  those 
things,  or  from  them  all,  I  should  be  willing  to 
conform  my  conduct  to  His  wish." 

"That 's  all  I  want  to  know,"  I  said.  "I  lay 
down  no  requirements.  I  want  Him  who  is  to  be 
your  Savior  to  be  your  Guide.  Now  just  go  to 
your  room  and  kneel  down  before  the  Lord,  and 
tell  Him  how  it  is.  Tell  Him  that  you  need  a 
Savior,  that  you  do  not  know  any  Savior  other  than 
Himself,  and  that  you  want  Him  to  save  you.  Tell 
Him  that  you  are  willing  to  put  yourself  into  His 
hands,  that  you  will  conform  your  conduct  and 
course  to  His  wishes,  and  that  you  want  to  trust 
Him." 

Pressing  each  other's  hands,  we  parted  for 
the  night.  Of  course  I  prayed  for  him,  but  I 
prayed  trustfully.  When  I  met  him  the  next  morn- 
ing I  asked  him  if  he  had  done  as  he  promised  to. 
As  he  said  that  he  had,  I  inquired  if  he  felt  that 
the  Savior  had  accepted  him. 

"I  don't  suppose  that  He  has  yet,"  was  his 
reply. 

"Why  not  ?"  I  inquired. 

"I  do  n't  suppose  that  Jesus  Christ  would  ac- 
cept me  at  once,"  he  said. 


172  Every-Day  Evangelism 

"Well,  then,  the  responsibility  is  with  Him.  I 
do  n't  see  that  you  have  anything  more  to  do  about 
it,"  was  my  reply. 

"What  do  you  mean?"  he  asked,  with  a  sur- 
prised look. 

"Why,  if  you  have  gone  to  the  only  Savior 
there  is,  and  have  offered  yourself  to  Him,  telling 
Him  you  are  willing  to  shape  your  course  by  His 
directions,  and  He  is  not  ready  to  accept  you,  but 
wants  to  wait  awhile,  there  seems  to  be  nothing  else 
for  you  to  do." 

"Do  you  mean,"  he  asked,  "that  I  ought  to 
believe  that  Jesus  Christ  at  once  accepts  me,  and 
that  I  can  fully  trust  Him  now  as  my  Savior?" 

"That  certainly  is  the  way  I  understand  it,"  I 
said.  "I  can't  see  any  other  way.  It  seems  to  be 
that  or  nothing." 

"Then  I  '11  do  that,"  he  said,  earnestly,  and  he 
evidently  meant  what  he  said.  From  that  hour  he 
was  an  earnest,  devoted  follower  of  Christ,  as  I  was 
familiar  with  him  for  years. 

Talks   Plainly    and   Lovingly   to    a   Backslidden 
Soldier. 

When  first  I  joined  my  regiment  in  North 
Carolina,  I  found  there  a  young  lieutenant  whom 
I  had  known  as  an  active,  earnest  Christian  worker 


Illustrative  Incidents  173 

in  his  Connecticut  home.  As  I  was  looking  up  the 
members  of  my  new  charge  I  called  on  him  in  his 
tent,  and  said  something  of  my  hope  to  have  his 
help  in  work  for  my  Master. 

"No,  no.  Chaplain,"  said  he,  "I  've  given  up 
all  that  stuff.  I  know  now  that  there  's  no  truth  in 
it,  and  I  do  n't  want  to  hear  a  word  on  the  subject." 

"You  are  not  saying  now  what  you  believe, 
Lieutenant." 

"What  do  you  mean.  Chaplain.'*" 

"I  mean  that  I  know  you  well  enough  to  under- 
stand that  what  you  said  and  did  for  years  in 
your  faithful  Christian  work  and  in  your  Sunday- 
school  teaching  has  not  been  given  up  by  you  out 
of  your  inmost  heart.  You  can  talk  this  way  to  me 
now  to  try  to  stiffen  up  your  courage  of  resist- 
ance, but  when  the  camp  is  quiet,  and  you  are 
alone  on  your  bunk  in  the  darkness,  you  would 
never  talk  in  this  way  to  your  God,  who  you  know 
is  near  you  always." 

"Well,"  he  said,  somewhat  more  gently,  "I 
do  n't  want  to  talk  about  this  subject,  at  any  rate." 

"But  I  must  talk  about  it,"  I  said.  "It 's  very 
real  to  me.  And  I  'm  here  because  of  my  belief.  I 
love  you  too  dearly  to  refrain  from  speaking  to 
you  and  urging  you  to  come  back  to  your  old 
love,  and  faith,  and  duty,  and  joy." 


174  Every-Day  Evangelism 

Weeks  passed  on.  When  I  saw  the  lieutenant 
in  his  tent  I  would  show  him  that  I,  at  least,  had  n't 
lost  my  faith ;  yet  I  refrained  from  provoking  any 
discussion  on  the  subject.  He  seemed  to  be  grateful 
for  my  interest  in  him,  and  he  never  again  gave 
an  expression  of  his  unbelief,  nor  did  he  say  that 
which  would  jar  on  me.  I  tried  to  re^ch  him  by 
indirect  means,  in  talking  about  former  interests 
and  persons  connected  with  our  work  together  for 
our  common  Master.  In  this  way,  at  times,  the 
truth  we  had  both  then  held  dear  would  come  into 
prominence,  but  no  word  of  unpleasant  difference 
was  a  result. 

After  a  little  there  came  on  a  battle  in  which 
our  regiment  lost  severely.  Several  temporary  hos- 
pitals were  opened  in  small  dwelling-houses  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  field  of  action.  As  I  was  oc- 
cupied in  one  of  these  hospitals,  I  heard  that  my 
lieutenant  friend  lay  wounded  in  another.  As  soon 
as  I  had  opportunity  I  went  over  to  see  him.  His 
right  leg  had  been  amputated  near  the  hip.  He 
lay  on  a  cot  among  many  wounded.  Looking  up 
as  I  approached,  he  said  cheerily: 

"The  Lord  has  got  me.  Chaplain.  I  would  n't 
serve  Him  with  two  legs,  so  he  took  away  one.  But 
now  I  '11  be  more  of  a  man  with  one  leg  than  I  was 
with  two." 


Illustrative  Incidents  175 

Then  as  I  spoke  warmly  of  my  sympathy  with 
and  interest  in  him,  he  told  of  his  experience  and 
feelings. 

"As  my  leg  went  out  from  under  me,  and  I 
felt  I  was  gone,  I  said,  'The  Lord's  got  me,  and 
I  'm  glad  of  it.'  You  were  right,  Chaplain,  that 
day  you  came  to  my  tent  first.  I  never  really  gave 
up  my  belief,  or  had  an}^  rest  in  my  life  trying  to 
live  without  faith.  And  now  I  believe  I  shall  live 
nearer  the  Lord  than  ever,  and  have  more  comfort 
in  Him." 

Both  of  the  above  incidents  are  from  "Indi- 
vidual Work  for  Individuals,"  Trumbull,  p.  62 
and  p.  77. 

M.   A.    HUDSON. 

Is  Driven  Into  Soul-winning — Frank  Earnestness 
Succeeds, 

Twenty-five  years  ago  a  young  man  of  thirty- 
three  was  addressing  his  first  public  meeting  on 
the  subject  of  religion.  He  had  been  just  four 
weeks  a  Christian.  Because  he  was  well-known 
commercially,  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tion hall,  where  he  was  to  speak,  was  crowded  with 
merchants  and  clerks.  Telling  with  enthusiasm  of 
his  new-found  Savior,  the  young  convert  said  that 
Christian  people  ought  to  speak  of  Christ  to  others 


176  Every-Day  Evangelism 

oftener  than  they  do,  and  seek  to  win  men  indi- 
vidually to  Christ. 

"If  you  know  a  man  whom  God  tells  you  to 
speak  to,  and  to  whom  you  feel  you  can't  go  your- 
self," said  he,  "send  some  one  else  after  him.  I  did 
that  very  thing  last  week." 

This  was  in  Syracuse.  In  the  audience  sat 
George  G.  Truair,  then  and  for  many  years  after- 
ward editor  of  the  Syracuse  Evening  Journal.  As 
the  speaker  reached  this  point,  Mr.  Truair  arose 
suddenly  to  his  feet  and  called  out :  "Mr.  Hudson, 
you  are  young  in  the  Christian  life  yet,  and  I  want 
to  ask  you  a  question.  Did  the  man  you  sent  to 
the  other  man  to  whom  God  had  told  you  to  go  and 
speak,  bring  him  to  Christ .?" 

"No,  he  was  not  ready,"  was  the  answer. 

"He  never  will  be  ready,"  came  the  quick  retort 
from  the  man  on  the  floor,  "and  he  never  will  be  a 
Christian  until  you  go  yourself  and  ask  him  to 
come.  If  God  had  wanted  some  one  else  to  speak 
to  that  man,  God  would  have  spoken  to  some  one 
else  instead  of  to  you.  Now,"  continued  the  editor, 
turning  and  facing  the  audience  of  men,  attentive 
and  curious  at  the  unexpected  turn  that  things  had 
taken,  "how  many  of  you  will  promise  to  pray  for 
Mr.  Hudson  at  ten  o'clock  to-morrow  morning 
while  he  goes  himself  and  wins  that  man  to  Christ  ?" 


Illustrative  Incidents  177 

An  army  of  men  raised  their  hands,  and  the 
young  convert  was  squarely  in  for  it.  Ten  o'clock 
the  next  morning  came  all  too  soon.  He  passed 
and  repassed  the  door  of  the  business  building 
where  his  man  worked  before  he  could  screw  up 
courage  enough  to  enter.  Then  he  marched  in. 
His  man,  a  book-binder,  working  over  a  ledger  in 
the  far  corner  of  the  room,  had  evidently  seen  him 
coming,  for  he  greeted  the  visitor  by  name  as  he 
came  alongside  without  looking  up  from  his  work. 

"I  've  come  on  a  queer  errand,"  said  Hudson, 
awkwardly.  "I  have  been  a  Christian,  you  know, 
only  a  few  weeks ;  it  is  a  hard  thing  for  me  to  come 
and  talk  with  you  about  this,  but  it  means  so  much 
to  me  that  I  want  to  know  if  you  will  not  make  the 
decision  this  morning  and  give  your  heart  to 
Christ." 

He  stopped.  There  was  no  answer;  the  man 
went  on  at  his  work,  still  without  looking  up.  The 
young  soul-winner  waited;  no  answer.  Then  he 
laid  his  hand  upon  the  shoulder  of  the  man  he  had 
come  to  win,  and  began  again:  "You  and  I  have 
been  friends  for  so  long  that  I  believe  I  can  help 
you  and  you  can  help  me  in  the  Christian  life,  and 
I  want  you  to  say  to  me  that  you  will  make  the 
decision."  Still  no  reply;  but  now,  as  Hudson 
waited  with  his  hand  on  his  friend's  arm,  he  bore 
12 


178  Every-Day  Evangelism 

down  hard  and  lovingly  on  that  arm.  Then  he 
saw  on  the  ledger  that  was  before  them  big  tear- 
drops falling,  and  he  knew  that  he  had  his  man. 
After  a  moment  more  the  book-binder's  hand  was 
thrust  out  and  gripped  his  caller's,  as  he  said, 
"Hudson,  there  's  my  hand  on  it.  I  'm  a  Christian 
from  this  time  on." 

From  Introduction  by  C.  G.  Trumbull,  in  "The 
How  Book,"  by  M.  A.  Hudson,  p.  7. 

Surprises  a  Cartman  and  Pledges  God  to  a  Good 
Promise. 

After  several  months  of  living  a  Christian  life, 
I  was  much  shocked  as  I  was  standing  in  the  door 
of  our  storeroom  to  hear  our  old  cartman  utter  a 
long  string  of  oaths  as  he  unloaded  the  goods  from 
his  cart.  As  he  was  about  to  leave  he  saw  me 
standing  there,  and  looking  somewhat  ashamed,  he 
said,  "I  beg  your  pardon,  sir;  I  did  not  know 
you  were  present  or  I  would  not  have  sworn  so." 
I  at  once  told  him  that  he  need  not  beg  my  par- 
don, that  the  sin  he  had  committed  M^as  against 
God,  and  that  he  should  ask  God's  pardon  instead 
of  mine.  This  led  to  a  conversation  in  which  he 
said  he  had  tried  so  hard  to  quit  swearing,  and 
that  for  years  his  good  resolutions  had  been  a 
failure.     I  told  him  at  once  that  there  was  only 


Illustrative  Incidents  179 

one  sure  way  to  quit,  and  that  was  to  give  his 
heart  to  Christ  and  to  become  a  Christian.  He 
said  he  had  seen  a  great  change  in  my  own  life, 
and  sometimes  thought  that  perhaps  God  could 
help  him  break  his  habit  of  swearing.  I  told  him 
that  if  he  would  ask  God  he  would  receive,  and 
that  instead  of  swear  God  would  put  prayer 
in  his  mouth  and  the  habit  would  be  broken. 
Jumping  upon  his  wagon,  he  said  he  thought  he 
was  too  far  gone  for  that  and  went  on  his  way 
whistling,  as  if  that  was  the  end  of  it.  Within  a 
week  the  same  thing  happened  again,  and  I  re- 
minded him  of  what  I  had  told  him  the  week  be- 
fore, that  if  he  would  consent,  "God  would  put 
prayer  in  his  mouth  instead  of  swear."  He  said 
he  would  be  very  happy  if  he  could  believe  that, 
and  that  he  would  do  it  in  a  minute;  to  which 
I  responded  that  it  would  take  only  a  minute  for 
him  to  surrender  to  Christ,  and  he  said  he  would. 
I  told  him  to  step  into  the  cellar  and  we  would 
settle  the  question  at  once,  and  back  of  a  large 
hogshead  we  knelt  and  he  began  the  Christian  life. 
Many  times  he  has  told  me  that  it  was  a  miracle 
that  God  could  take  him  and  put  "prayer  in  his 
mouth  instead  of  swear,"  and  that  he  has  never 
sworn  from  that  day.  In  a  few  months  he  drove 
in  front  of  my  store  in  the  evening,  and  calling 


180  Every-Day  Evangelism 

me  to  the  curb,  showed  me  an  elegant  covered  car- 
riage containing  his  wife  and  a  happy  family  of 
children.  With  eyes  glistening,  he  said:  "Mr. 
Hudson,  it  pays  to  be  a  Christian.  Do  you  see 
the  new  carriage  I  have  bought  ? — and  it  is  the  first 
one  I  ever  owned.  I  have  bought  carriages  for 
the  saloon  all  my  life,  but  now  I  am  keeping  my 
money  out  of  the  saloon  and  buying  carriages  for 
my  family."  Many  years  have  gone  by  and  Jack 
is  still  a  Christian. 

From  "The  How  Book"  of  the  Baraca  Move- 
ment, by  M.  A.  Hudson;  page  127. 

E.  R.  GRAVES. 

Asks  Permission  to  Put  a  Name  on  His  Prayer  List, 

Mr.  Graves,  as  a  traveling  man,  was  zealous 
for  souls  and  started  a  prayer  list.  Samuel  M. 
Sayford,  a  merchant  whom  he  asked  to  allow  his 
name  to  go  down  on  this  list,  wrote  his  signature 
on  it  and  told  Mr.  Graves  that  as  he  had  decided 
never  to  become  a  Christian  he  had  taken  too  big 
a  contract  if  he  expected  to  pray  him  into  the  king- 
dom. The  quiet  reply  was,  "I  confidently  expect 
my  prayer  to  be  answered."  When  they  met  again, 
Mr.  Sayford  had  been  converted.  With  tears  of 
joy  the  name  was  erased,  and  Mr.  Say  ford's  sub- 


Illustrative  Incidents  181 

sequent  career  as  a  Christian  worker  and  evangelist 
is  well  known. 

From  "The  Art  of  Soul-winning,"  J.  W.  Ma- 
hood,  p.  91.  More  fully  in  Mr.  Say  ford's  book, 
"Personal  Work,"  p.  85. 

T.    L.    CUYLER. 

Appeals  to  a  Warm  Heart, 

The  following  is  an  old  story,  but  it  is  a  good 
one,  and  one  which  may  be  successfully  imitated. 
It  was  a  cold  winter's  night,  and  Dr.  Cuyler  was 
leaving  the  home  of  a  rich  merchant  whom  he  had 
been  visiting.  As  the  door  opened  and  the  gale 
swept  in.  Dr.  Cuyler .  remarked,  "What  an  awful 
night  for  the  poor!"  The  merchant  went  and 
brought  a  roll  of  bank  notes  and  gave  them  to 
the  pastor,  who  said,  "How  is  it  that  a  man  so 
kind  to  his  fellow-creatures  has  always  been  so 
unkind  to  his  Savior  as  to  refuse  Him  his  heart?" 
The  sentence  struck  in,  and  later  he  sent  for  the 
minister,  received  instruction,  and  was  converted. 

(Printed  in  many  books  of  illustrations). 

CHARLES  Jj,  GOODELL. 

Accuses  a  Man  of  Dishonesty  Towards  God. 

In  one  of  my  pastorates  was  a  man  with  a  large 
and  interesting  family.     The  wife  and  children 


182  Every-Day  Evangelism 

were  members  of  the  Church  and  he  was  not.     He 
had  come  to  the  city  as  a  young  man,  absolutely 
penniless.     From  a  humble  position  as  clerk  in  a 
furniture  store  he  advanced  by  energy  and  thrift 
until  he  was  able  to  start  a  little  business  of  his 
own.     His  wife  worked  with  him,  and  at  night  he 
delivered  with  a  wheelbarrow  the  goods  he  had  sold 
during   the    day.      His   advance   in   business    was 
rapid,  and  when  I  knew  him  he  had  a  large  build- 
ing five  stories   high  packed  with   furniture,   on 
which  he  did  not  owe  a  dollar.     He  delighted  to 
tell  me  of  his  early  struggles,  and  asked  me  to 
come  and  look  over  his  plant.     I  took  the  invita- 
tion as  a  call  from  God  and  went.    From  the  base- 
ment we  went  up,  story  after  story,  to  the  top  of 
the  building,  he   telling   me   in   substance   as   we 
reached  each  landing,  "Is  not  this  great  Babylon 
which  I  have  builded?"  and  I  wondering  when  it 
would  be  best  for  me  to  give  the  prophet's  mes- 
sage.    At  last  we  reached  the  top  floor.     It  was 
crowded  with  refrigerators,  but  my  heart  was  hot. 
"You  say  this  is  all  yours.     You  do  not  owe  a 
dollar.      Once   you   were   poor.      You    have   had 
splendid    health,    while    your    nearest    competitor 
sickened   and   died.      His   wife  was   insane,   while 
yours  has  helped  you  at  every  turn.     You  say 
your  competitor  was  your  superior  in  training  and 
experience,  but  things  were  against  him.     So  it 


Illustrative  Incidents  183 

seems  that  the  greatest  factor  in  this  success  has 
been,  not  yourself,  but  God.  He  gave  you  health 
and  a  good  wife  and  fortunate  surroundings. 
What  have  you  ever  done  to  show  your  gratitude? 
You  do  not  even  ask  a  blessing  at  the  loaded  table 
in  your  elegant  home, — much  less  call  your  chil- 
dren about  you  for  family  prayers.  So  far  as  they 
would  know,  you  absolutely  disown  Him  who  has 
crowned  your  life  with  success.  Is  such  a  course 
manly  or  honest?  And  if  not,  about  how  long  do 
you  plan  to  keep  it  up?"  There  was  silence  in  the 
refrigerator  loft,  and  the  strong  man  was  moved. 
Then  I  said  tenderly:  "I  am  persuaded  better 
things  of  you.  We  are  here  alone.  Is  n't  it  a 
good  time  to  settle  this  great  question?"  He 
looked  me  full  in  the  eye  for  a  moment,  then  reach- 
ing over  a  low  refrigerator  that  stood  between  us, 
he  took  my  hand  in  a  vise-like  grip,  and  said:  "I 
never  saw  it  that  way  before.  If  God  will  forgive 
me,  I  will  own  Him  before  the  world  and  serve  Him 
as  long  as  I  live."  I  came  around  to  his  side  of 
the  refrigerator,  and  we  knelt  on  the  bare  floor 
and  prayed  together.  The  ice  was  all  melted,  and 
there  were  scalding  tears  on  his  cheeks.  He  kept 
his  word,  and  that  day  is  a  good  day  for  me  to 
recall  when  the  fire  burns  low. 

From    "Pastoral    and    Personal    Evangelism," 
Charles  L.  Goodell,  D.  D.,  p.  60. 


184  Every-Day  Evangelism 

EDWIN    H.    HUGHES 

Writes  Letters  and  Follows  Them  Up  with  Direct 
Appeal. 
I  had  In  my  congregation  a  man  of  seventy- 
eight.  He  was  freight  trainmaster  on  one  of  the 
largest  railway  systems  in  the  East.  He  had  been 
attendant  on  the  Church  of  which  I  was  pastor 
for  sixty -five  years,  ever  since  he  was  thirteen  years 
of  age.  I  wrote  him  letters.  One  evening  I  rang 
his  door-bell,  and  said,  "I  have  come  to  spend  part 
of  the  evening  with  you  and  talk  over  the  religious 
life."  He  did  not  feel  very  comfortable,  and  neither 
did  I.  But  we  went  into  the  parlor  and  sat  down. 
I  talked  with  that  man  for  an  hour  and  a  half. 
Before  that  time  had  passed  he  yielded  himself^ 
to  Christ.  I  said  not  a  word  to  him  with  reference 
to  public  confession.  Our  prayer-meeting  was  on 
Friday  night.  To  my  surprise  and  gratification 
that  gentleman  came  to  prayer-meeting,  and  when 
the  time  for  testimony  came  he  was  the  first  man 
to  make  a  public  confession. 

Wins  a  Man  in  His  Office, 

I  remember  going  into  the  office  of  a  young 
man,  a  regular  attendant  at  my  Church,  and  sit- 
ting down  with  him  in  the  private  office,  I  said :  "I 
have  felt  for  quite  a  number  of  months  as  though 
I  ought  to  have  a  talk  with  you  about  your  re- 


Illustrative  Incidents  185 

ligious  duty."  I  talked  away  for  five  minutes,  and 
finally  gave  him  a  chance  to  speak.  He  said:  "I 
have  wanted  to  do  this  for  months,  and  I  have 
been  hoping  that  you  would  come  and  have  a  talk 
with  me."  Right  in  the  office  that  young  man 
started  on  a  successful  Christian  career. 

Secures  the  Aid  of  Another  in  Reaching  a  Friend, 

I  remember  working  on  a  layman,  a  business 
man,  who  had  been  a  trustee  of  the  Church,  and 
when  I  could  go  no  farther  I  went  to  a  fellow 
trustee,  and  said :  "I  want  you  to  have  a  talk  with 
him."  This  man,  who  had  been  a  member  of  the 
General  Conference,  said,  "I  never  did  such  a  thing 
as  that."  I  said:  "It  is  time  you  began  to  do  it. 
Go  to  him  in  a  natural  way,  and  if  your  religious 
life  has  been  a  help  to  you,  tell  the  man  so,  and  try 
to  get  him  to  accept  the  Lord."  He  said,  "I  do  n't 
know  how  I  will  get  on."  He  took  him  off  to 
dinner,  and  had  the  joy  of  leading  him  to  Christ. 
And  what  a  spirit  of  confidence  and  courage  came 
to  the  heart  of  the  layman  who,  in  twenty-five  years 
of  Christian  life,  had  never  tried  directly  to  lead 
anybody  to  Jesus  Christ! 

From  an  address,  "The  Every-day  Evangel- 
ist," by  Bishop  Edwin  H.  Hughes,  in  "Catching- 
Men,"  Brushingham. 


186  Every-Day  Evangelism 

I.OUIS  ALBERT  BANKS 

Makes  a  Shrewd  hut  Fair  Bargain, 

He  was  a  grocer's  clerk,  and  I  met  him  first 
at  the  parsonage  door  when  he  came  to  see  if  he 
could  get  my  trade.  He  was  a  quick-eyed,  ruddy- 
cheeked  fellow,  short  and  round,  but  alive,  every 
inch  of  him.  I  was  very  much  pleased  with  him, 
and  before  he  got  away  I  inquired:  "Where  do 
you  go  to  Church?" 

"Well,  to  tell  the  truth,  Dominie,  I  do  n't  go 
anywhere." 

"Why  not?" 

"O,  I  do  n't  know.  Got  out  of  the  habit,  I 
guess.  I  used  to  go  to  Church  at  home  in  Nova 
Scotia." 

"Well,"  I  said,  "you  will  have  to  come  and  see 
me  now,  anyhow.  Turn  about  is  fair  play.  If  I 
buy  your  goods,  you  will  have  to  come  and  take 
some  of  my  goods." 

That  seemed  to  strike  his  faincy,  and  he  went 
away  saying,  "All  right,  I  '11  come  around  next 
Sunday  night."  To  make  sure  he  did  come  around, 
I  went  to  the  store  on  purpose  the  next  Saturday 
afternoon,  and  looked  him  up  and  reminded  him 
that  I  would  be  looking  for  him. 

It  was  my  habit  then,  as  now,  to  be  at  the 
door  of  the  church  Sunday  morning  and  evening 


Illustrative  Incidents  187 

when  the  church  is  opened,  and  shake  hands  with 
the  people  when  they  come  in,  till  time  for  the 
service  to  begin.  So  the  next  Sunday  evening  I 
was  on  the  lookout  for  my  grocer's  clerk.  When 
he  came  I  had  a  word  with  him.  I  said  to  him :  "I 
have  been  thinking  about  you  and  praying  about 
you  ever  since  I  talked  to  you  the  other  morning 
at  my  house."  I  told  him  that  I  had  been  homesick 
all  week  because  there  was  not  a  man  or  a  woman 
in  the  community  whom  I  had  won  to  Christ.  "And 
now,"  said  I,  "I  have  been  hoping  and  praying  that 
the  Lord  will  give  me  you  to-night.  I  somehow  feel 
that  it  was  providential  that  you  came  to  me  the 
other  day,  and  that  if  you  will  begin  to  be  a  Chris- 
tian at  once  we  shall  begin  our  pastorate  here  to- 
gether, and  you  and  I  together  can  do  a  great  deal 
of  good  with  the  blessing  of  God." 

He  seemed  very  much  touched.  He  was  a 
noble  fellow,  and  the  brotherly  way  in  which  I 
approached  him,  and  my  appeal  to  his  better  self 
to  come  to  Christ  so  that  he  could  do  good,  seemed 
to  get  hold. 

The  theme  of  the  sermon  that  evening  was  the 
story  of  the  little  boy  who  had  the  loaves  and 
fishes  which,  in  the  hands  of  Christ,  became  suffi- 
cient to  feed  the  multitude.  It  gave  me  a  great 
chance  to  get  at  my  young  clerk,  and  I  pressed 


188  Every-Day  Evangelism 

the  gospel  home,  with  him  in  mind,  with  all  the 
power  I  had.  The  Holy  Spirit  blessed  the  mes- 
sage. I  could  see  by  his  glistening  eye  and  the 
rapt  look  on  his  face  that  he  was  greatly  interested. 
At  the  close  of  the  sermon  I  announced  that 
there  would  be  an  after-meeting  In  the  vestry,  and 
urged  Christians  and  all  others  who  were  inter- 
ested to  remain  with  us.  To  my  great  joy  my 
grocer's  clerk  came  in,  and  on  my  giving  an  op- 
portunity for  any  who  would  like  to  begin  the 
Christian  life  to  manifest  it  by  rising,  he  was 
almost  at  once  on  his  feet. 

From  "Soul- winning  Stories,"  by  Louis  Albert 
Banks,  D.  D. 


CHAPTER  XII 
THE  KING'S  BUSINESS 

The  King's  business  is  the  saving  of  men.  For 
this  He  came  to  earth :  for  this  He  gave  a  lifetime 
of  patient  toil  and  teaching:  for  this  He  died  and 
was  raised  from  the  dead:  for  this  He  ever  liveth, 
making  intercession. 

The  King's  business  is  that  of  His  followers. 
He  taught  them :  "I  will  make  you  fishers  of  men," 
"Go  make  disciples  of  all  the  nations,"  "Ye  shall 
be  My  witnesses."  One  does  not  have  to  be  in  a 
membership  department  or  on  a  committee  to  get 
into  this  business;  he  has  his  commission  from  the 
King  Himself;  it  is  the  command  of  his  Lord, 
as  well  as  the  prompting  of  his  own  heart.  Why, 
then,  make  choice  of  a  select  number  for  a  work 
which  has  been  laid  upon  all?  The  answer  has 
been  given, — to  inspire  added  interest,  to  afford 
opportunity  for  training,  to  systematize  the  work 
so  that  it  may  be  done  thoroughly,  to  secure  the 
advantages  of  co-operation,  to  raise  up  an  army 
189 


190  Every-Day  Evangelism 

of  qualified  workers  who  will  enlist  and  guide  others 
to  the  most  effective  service.  But  if  comprehensive- 
ness of  plan  and  unity  of  effort  are  not  obtained, 
let  him  whose  soul  flames  with  love  for  men  and 
with  concern  for  their  salvation  go  forth  unaided 
by  human  strength,  but  certain  that  the  power  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  will  attend  his  efforts. 

A  great  work  can  be  done  by  one  individual, 
who  has  the  spirit  of  the  founder  of  "The  Order 
of  the  Grain  of  Mustard."  Tholuck  wisely  took 
up  the  phrase  of  Zinzendorf,  "I  have  but  one  pas- 
sion; it  is  He."  This  supreme  passion  transforms 
its  possessor.  He  receives  courage  and  might  not 
his  own.  He  is  determined  to  obey  and  exalt  his 
Lord.  At  all  hazards  His  work  shall  be  done  and 
His  kingdom  established.  Would  that  the  ambi- 
tions of  a  pleasure-loving,  gain-seeking  age  were 
replaced  with  a  new  and  stronger  love  for  Christ! 
It  were  well  that  the  depth  of  feeling  were  in  us 
which  burns  in  the  utterance  of  Madame  Guyou: 

"Why  have  I  not  a  thousand,  thousand  hearts, 
Lord  of  my  soul !  that  they  might  all  be  Thine? 
If  Thou  approve — the  zeal  Thy  smile  imparts — 
How  should  it  ever  fail?    Can  such  a  fire  decline? 

Love,  pure  and  holy,  is  a  deathless  fire  ; 

Its  object  heavenly,  it  must  ever  blaze ; 

Eternal  love  a  God  must  needs  inspire. 

When  once  He  wins  the  heart,  and  fits  it  for  His  praise. 


The  King's  Business  191 

It  is  because  Christ  is  not  loved  as  He  should 
be  that  there  is  not  more  love  for  men.  These  t  7o 
great  passions  in  essence  are  one, — the  passion  for 
Christ  and  the  passion  for  souls.  History  is  proof. 
The  notable  movements  for  human  redemption  have 
been  inspired  by  the  spirit  of  Christian  affection, 
and  the  efforts  made  to  rescue  individuals  from  the 
power  and  effects  of  evil  habits  have  been  exerted 
as  the  result  of  the  same  influence.  It  is  those  who 
love  Christ  who  seek  to  win  the  drunkard  from  his 
cups ;  the  Magdalen  from  her  sins  ;  the  gambler,  the 
thief,  the  blasphemer,  the  liar  from  wicked  and 
ruinous  ways.  In  spite  of  notorious  instances  to 
the  contrary  within  the  pale  of  the  Church,  it  is 
also  true  that  it  is  those  who  love  Christ  who  are 
striving  to  break  the  bands  of  selfishness,  oppres- 
sion, and  injustice,  and  to  bring  men  w^ho  are 
guilty  of  abusing  their  power  over  others  to  an 
attitude  of  justice  and  good-will.  One  obtains  some 
idea  of  the  debt  which  the  world  owes  to  the  al- 
truistic influence  of  Christianity  in  past  genera- 
tions by  reading  such  works  as  Gesta  Christi^  and 
Social  Evolution,^  while  the  present  opportunity  is 
reflected  in  Jesus  Christ  and  the  Social  Problem,' 


1  Charles  Lorlng  Braoe.  3  Francis  G.  Peabody. 

2  Benjamin  Kidd. 


192  Every-Day  Evangelism 

in  Christianity  and  the  Social  Crisis,*  and  in  similar 
modern  writings. 

The  love  of  Christ  will  settle  right  the  social 
questions,  and  that  this  may  be  the  sooner  effected 
it  sends  those  who  have  received  its  fullness  into 
the  offices  of  daily  evangelism.  In  personal  salva- 
tion is  the  principle  of  moral  progress.  We  may 
get  right  laws  and  good  sewers,  clean  houses,  and 
honest  public  officers,  wholesome  food  and  wise  in- 
struction; but,  though  these  and  other  material 
improvements  have  been  realized,  the  world  in  which 
we  live  will  be  a  bad  world  until  bad  hearts  are  no 
more.  Therefore  he  is  working  at  the  very  center 
of  the  ethical  and  even  of  the  industrial  issues  of 
his  time  who  is  leading  his  fellows  into  touch  with 
the  Redeemer  of  men. 

The  King's  business  is  not  to  be  done  incon- 
siderately, but  thoughtfully  and  tactfully.  While 
sincerity  and  earnestness  are  always  influential, 
their  effectiveness  is  many  times  multiplied  by  care- 
fulness and  good  judgment.  "He  that  winneth 
souls  is  wise,"  should  be  understood  to  mean  both 
that  this  is  the  work  of  wisdom,  and  that  it  is  to 
be  done  as  wisely  as  possible.  One  must  cultivate 
the  art  of  approach,  the  natural  and  sympathetic 
way  of  getting  at  the  mind  which  he  would  impress. 

4  Walter  Rauschenbusch. 


The  King's  Business  198 

There  must  be  an  entire  absence  of  the  artificial 
about  our  efforts  to  lead  men  Christward.  Each 
act  and  word  should  be  the  overflowing  of  a  spirit 
whose  inner  experience  is  in  accord  with  the  task. 
What  progress  the  kingdom  of  God  would  make 
if  all  Christians  were  in  the  state  of  grace  which 
enables  one  to  speak  of  religion  as  simply  and  in- 
genuously as  of  any  matter  of  importance  and  of 
tenderness.  Successful  life  winners  have  taught 
us  to  keep  our  hearts  so  full  of  Christ  that  we 
may  talk  of  Him  as  easily  and  familiarly  as  we 
would  of  any  friend.  They  were  every-day  evan- 
gelists, using  with  skill  the  constant  openings 
which  the  relationships  and  happenings  of  life 
afford.  Hewitson  saw  a  mother  standing  in  her 
dooryard  with  her  babe.  He  approached  her  and 
said,  "Mother,  I  trust  that  your  soul  is  resting 
as  safely  in  the  arms  of  Jesus  as  that  little  one 
rests  in  your  arms."  Dean  Stanley  met  two  sol- 
diers who  were  looking  at  the  monuments  of  famous 
leaders  and  heroes  in  Westminster  Abbey.  He 
placed  a  hand  upon  an  arm  of  each  and  said,  "You 
wear  the  Queen's  uniform,  and  I  am  sure  you 
would  like  to  do  something  heroic  and  have  a 
monument  here."  Of  course  they  would.  "Well," 
said  their  questioner,  "all  the  monuments  here  will 
in  time  crumble  away,  but  if  your  names  are 
13 


194  Every-Day  Evangelism 

written  in  the  Lamb's  Book  of  Life,  you  will  have 
a  memorial  that  will  never  fail."  A  college  pro- 
fessor in  New  England,  feeling  that  an  effort 
should  be  made  to  reach  a  student  who  had  become 
dissipated,  went  to  him  and  said :  "There  is  a  gifted 
young  man  in  this  college  whom  I  wish  to  save. 
Will  you  help  me?"  When  the  student  found  out 
that  it  was  himself  to  whom  the  professor  referred, 
he  was  deeply  moved,  and  the  result  proved  the 
value  of  tactfulness. 

Because  illustrations  of  personal  work  are  gen- 
erally taken  from  the  experience  of  ministers  and 
evangelists,  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  they  are 
necessarily  either  more  zealous  or  more  successful 
in  conducting  the  King's  business  than  are  many 
others.  This  is  a  work  which  depends  for  its  re- 
sults, not  upon  personalities  or  offices,  but  upon 
the  Spirit  of  God  in  the  heart  of  the  worker.  The 
preacher  of  the  Gospel,  of  course,  must  be  active 
in  it,  and  he  has  not  learned  the  first  rudiments  of 
his  calling  if  he  has  not  come  to  realize  with  Henry 
Ward  Beecher,  that  "the  best  sermons  are  those 
where  one  man  is  the  minister  and  one  man  Is  the 
congregation."  But  In  all  the  ranks  of  the  min- 
istry It  would  be  difficult  to  find  soul-winners  who 
are  either  more  expert  or  more  efficient  than  are  a 
large  number  who  are  connected  with  secular  pro- 


The  King's  Business  195 

fessions  and  occupations,  Christian  physicians, 
teachers,  business  men,  soldiers,  and  statesmen. 
Such  laymen  as  Shaftesbury,  George  Williams, 
William  E.  Gladstone,  "Chinese"  Gordon,  John 
Howard,  Oliver  O.  Howard,  John  Vassar,  Profes- 
sor Drummond,  and  countless  others,  are  noted  as 
having  proved  themselves  accepted  channels  of 
Divine  grace.  Modern  men  of  affairs,  like  John 
L.  Houghtaling,  M.  A.  Hudson,  Wellington  Wood, 
Harvey  E.  Dingley,  and  Robert  H.  Gardiner, 
when  wholly  devoted  to  Christian  service,  are  fit 
instruments  for  the  communication  of  the  word 
and  power  of  eternal  life.  But  the  truth  stops  not 
here ;  of  the  most  earnest,  and  I  doubt  not  success- 
ful, every-day  evangelists  I  have  ever  known,  one 
was  a  millhand,  another  a  cartman,  another  a  col- 
lector, another  a  housemaid.  Indeed,  the  best  per- 
sonal-workers are  not  often  found  in  the  higher 
walks  of  life,  or  of  those  who  possess  greatest 
native  ability.  "It  is  not  by  might  nor  by  power, 
but  by  My  Spirit,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts." 

The  gracious  influence  of  a  consecrated  woman 
is  a  powerful  agent  in  securing  conversions,  and 
every  effort  should  be  made  to  bring  the  women 
of  the  Church  to  realize  this  and  to  make  better 
use  of  their  strength.     O,  to  get  the  woman  who 


i96  Every-Day  Evangelism 

is  devoting  her  talents  to  clubs  and  sororities,  or 
whose  time  is  given  to  social  frivolities,  to  enter 
with  enthusiasm  and  with  sweet  persuasiveness  the 
work  of  bringing  her  friends  to  Christ !  The  world 
will  never  be  better  or  more  Christian  than  its 
women.  If  they  are  indifferent  to  the  religious 
interests,  not  only  of  their  associates,  but  of  their 
own  children,  the  kingdom  of  God  will  be  long 
in  conquering  the  kingdoms  of  the  world;  but  if 
they  seek  and  seize  the  many  opportunities  which 
come  to  them  they  will  find  that  through  their 
deeds  God  works  miracles  of  redeeming  grace. 
What  an  honor  and  privilege  is  this!  How  much 
better  to  be  an  Ursula  Cotta,  planting  moral  ideas 
in  the  mind  of  some  young  Luther,  than  to  be  a 
queen  of  society.  It  was  Maria  Millis,  a  pious 
nurse,  who  developed  in  Lord  Shaftesbury  the  love 
of  goodness  and  who  taught  him  the  prayers  which, 
to  his  dying  day,  he  continued  to  use.  A  Christian » 
woman  taught  Martin  Boos,  the  Bavarian  Luther, 
the  secret  of  justification  by  faith,  as  the  result 
of  which  instruction  such  peace  came  to  his  heart 
and  such  an  anointing  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  that 
"flames  of  fire  darted  from  his  lips  and  the  hearts 
of  people  kindled  like  straw."  It  was  Barbara 
Heck  who  rebuked  the  backslidden  Wesleyans  of 


The  King's  Business  197 

New  York,  and  stirred  the  timid  soul  of  Embury 
to  his  liigh  career.  One  of  the  Methodist  Bishops, 
in  the  account  of  his  conversion,  tells  of  the  help- 
fulness of  "Mother"  Hunter,  a  saintly  woman 
whose  "words  gave  just  the  searching  instruction 
and  tender  encouragement  that  the  humbled  skeptic 
and  penitent  needed."  Of  another  woman  of  this 
type  who  recently  passed  to  her  reward,  a  prom- 
inent man  says :  "She  came  to  the  pew  where  I  was 
sitting  and  placed  her  hand  on  my  head.  I  arose 
right  up  under  it,  and  followed  her  to  the  altar. 
I  could  not  do  otherwise."  To  have  so  much  of 
Christ  in  one's  life  as  did  these  women,  and  to  be 
able  to  do  such  works  of  saving  love,  should  be 
held  before  all  womankind  as  the  highest  ideal. 
There  are  many  women  of  to-day  who,  in  Church 
and  out  of  it,  are  exerting  themselves  to  enlarge 
the  circle  of  Christian  believers,  and  to  deepen  the 
religious  experience  of  those  who  have  claimed  the 
love  of  Christ.  They  use  their  best  endeavors  with 
their  own  families,  with  the  children  whom  they 
teach  in  Sunday-school,  with  their  neighbors  and 
personal  friends,  and  they  do  not  forget  the 
butcher's  boy,  the  banana  man,  or  the  shop  girl, 
but  loave  with  these  also  some  word  of  suggestion, 
inspiration,  or  invitation.  Why  should  it  not  be 
impressed  upon  every  woman  of  Christendom  that 


198  Every-Day  Evangelism 

this  is  her  work,  divinely  appointed,  to  be  strength- 
ened by  her  hfe,  supplemented  by  her  prayers,  and 
to  be  counted  her  chief  joy? 

What  is  the  relation  of  children  to  the  work 
which  we  are  considering?  They  are  not  to  be 
taught  to  be  little  prigs,  to  be  precocious  or  for- 
ward in  their  intercourse  with  others.  But  they 
can  surely  be  the  King's  pages  and  heralds,  exert- 
ing a  Christian  influence  at  home  and  in  school, 
and  even  making  definite  efforts  to  lead  their 
friends  into  the  higher  life.  They  will  probably  not 
be  enrolled  in  a  membership  committee,  but  they 
may  wisely  be  encouraged  by  those  who  are  lead- 
ing them,  to  let  their  light  shine  as  they  have  daily 
opportunities.  What  a  vast  accumulation  of  illus- 
trations have  gathered  around  the  text,  "A  little 
child  shall  lead  theml"  Not  only  does  the  child's 
unconscious  purity  and  love  tend  to  draw  the 
thought  and  allegiance  heavenward,  but  by  the 
intelligent  appeals  of  children  many  men  and 
women  have  been  brought  to  Christ.  A  little  girl, 
recently  converted,  knelt  down  by  her  grandfather 
and  prayed  God  to  lead  him  to  become  a  Christian, 
and  that  as  he  was  getting  old  he  might  decide 
to  attend  to  it  right  away.  The  plea  proved  ir- 
resistible. A  young  lad  who  came  to  the  first  chil- 
dren's   class   I    ever    formed,    brought   the    whole 


The  King's  Business  199 

family,  one  at  a  time,  to  the  Church,  where  they 
came  into  the  Christian  life,  last  of  all  the  father, 
who  was  soon  one  of  the  officials.  Bishop  Joseph 
F.  Berry  was  led  to  Christ  by  two  young  friends. 
Jennie  Fowler  Willing  once  gave  an  account  of  a 
boy  who  wrote  down  a  list  of  forty  companions 
who  were  not  Christians.  Then,  one  by  one,  he 
talked  with  them,  showed  them  verses  of  Scriptures 
which  he  thought  would  be  helpful,  and  prayed 
that  his  work  might  be  successful.  It  was  said 
that  at  length  the  whole  number  had  been  con- 
verted through  his  efforts.  Why  not?  If  a  child 
can  be  saved,  he  can  be  the  means  God  employs 
to  save  others.  Little  keys  open  doors  which  are 
closed  to  larger  ones.  In  seeking  to  accom- 
plish a  great  work  every  helpful  force  is  to  be 
utilized.  Therefore,  let  not  the  Christian  influence 
of  children  be  despised  or  go  undirected. 

The  King's  business  requires  haste.  Since  the 
days  are  flying,  and  thousands  are  living  Christ- 
less  lives  and  dropping  into  Christless  graves,  there 
is  no  time  to  waste.  Let  the  affairs  of  the  king- 
dom of  God  be  made  first  in  thought  and  in  act, 
especially  if  it  be  the  purpose  to  speak  to  another 
about  his  soul,  do  it  now !  Two  brothers  in  London 
were  converted.  They  had  another  brother  in 
Ireland  who  was  not  a  Christian,  and  him  they 


200  Every-Day  Evangelism 

telegraphed,  "Come  at  once;  very  important  busi- 
ness." When  he  arrived  they  took  him  into  their 
private  office,  and,  with  tears,  told  him  their  ex- 
perience, and  besought  him  to  join  with  them  in 
serving  Christ.  He  consented  and  they  were  united 
in  an  act  which  is  not  only  very  important,  but 
vital  to  every  soul.  This  occurred  during  one  of 
Mr.  Moody's  campaigns  in  London,  and  as  the 
result  of  that  conception  of  the  King's  business 
which  made  Dwight  L.  Moody  not  merely  a  won- 
derful leader  of  men  in  the  mass,  but  what  is  even 
better,  one  of  the  most  expert  dealers  with  the 
problems  and  issues  of  the  individual  heart. 

The  delight  of  this  work!  Who  shall  describe 
it?  The  satisfaction  of  the  effort  itself,  inde- 
pendent of  the  outcome,  is  abundant  reward.  One 
of  the  happiest  men  I  ever  saw  was  a  man  who 
had  been  taken  into  the  membership  department  as 
the  representative  of  one  of  the  Church  societies, 
though  he  had  never  been  a  personal  worker. 
When  he  found  out  the  nature  of  the  service,  he 
felt  that  he  was  not  fitted  for  it,  but  he  was  not 
one  of  the  kind  which  gives  up  without  a  trial. 
After  his  first  call  at  the  business  place  of  a  man 
whose  name  had  been  assigned  to  him,  he  came  to 
my  office  full  of  enthusiasm.  He  had  been  received 
kindly,  was  listened  to  patiently,  and  was  asked 


The  King's  Business  201 

to  come  again.  He  was  conscious  of  duty  done 
as  best  as  he  was  able,  and  was  hopeful  of  a 
good  result.  He  rejoiced  with  exultation  of  speech 
and  manner.  Ever  since  that  time  he  has  been 
engaged  in  similar  undertakings  for  the  pleasure, 
the  down-right  joy  of  them.  I  would  add  my  own 
experience.  The  happiest  periods  of  my  life  have 
been  those  when  I  have  been  most  continuously 
eno-aojed  in  hand-to-hand  work  for  the  salvation 
of  the  people.  I  have  walked  the  street  as  light 
as  air.  I  have  sung  joyful  songs  in  my  heart  as 
I  stood  on  the  doorstep,  waited  in  office  or  parlor, 
or  departed  after  an  attempt,  whether  apparently 
successful  or  not,  to  gain  access  with  the  truth 
of  Christ  to  the  heart  of  an  individual.  Life  was 
never  more  sweet,  and  Christ  and  Heaven  never 
seemed  so  true  and  good,  as  when  I  was  on  the  hunt 
for  souls.  Every  hour  so  spent  has  deepened  the 
conviction  in  my  mind  that  this  is  Kingly  business. 
Phillips  Brooks  once  said,  "I  do  not  believe 
any  man  ever  yet  genuinely,  humbly,  thoroughly 
gave  himself  to  Christ  without  some  other  finding 
Christ  through  him."  It  is  not  always  given  to 
one  to  be  told  that  he  has  been  the  means  of 
another's  conversion.  But  there  is  a  deep  satis- 
faction, passing  the  honors  and  pleasures  of  or- 
dinary life,  when   the   conviction   comes   home   to 


202  Every-Day  Evangelism 

us  that  some  effort  of  ours  has  been  at  least  one 
of  the  determining  factors  in  so  great  a  matter. 
A  noted  ruler  of  the  last  century,  one  day  by  his 
promptness  and  persistence,  was  the  means  of 
rescuing  a  man  from  impending  death.  When  he 
realized  what  he  had  done,  he  exclaimed,  "This  is 
the  happiest  day  of  my  life ;  I  have  saved  a  man !" 
Surpassing  this  is  the  joy  of  saving  from  self  and 
sin,  from  folly  and  eternal  death  a  human  soul. 
As  the  heavens  are  higher  than  the  earth,  so  is  the 
cure  of  souls  more  than  the  saving  of  bodies  to 
this  world,  and  the  blessing  of  the  one  infinitely 
exceeds  that  of  the  other. 

The  King's  business  is  the  enthronement  of 
Christ  in  hearts  which  give  Him  allegiance,  hom- 
age, obedience.  But  it  is  no  easy  task  to  seat  a 
sovereign  on  a  hostile  throne,  or  to  crown  a  ruler 
against  the  opposition  of  powerful  forces  which 
resist  his  sway. 

At  the  first  federation  of  Christian  students  in 
Japan,  they  decided  to  cable  the  young  men  who 
were  in  convention  assembled  at  Northfield,  and 
this  was  the  message  they  sent:  "Make  Jesus 
King!"  This  ringing  message  so  impressed  the 
Christian  young  men  of  America  that  they  cabled 
it  to  Sweden,  where  there  was  a  gathering  of  Chris- 
tian young  people  from  different  parts  of  Europe. 


The  King's  Business  203 

The  effect  was  electrical.  The  cry,  "Make  Jesus 
King !"  was  taken  up  by  that  convention  and  passed 
on  to  others  until  it  reached  Southern  Europe, 
almost  girdling  the  globe. 

How  many  members  of  these  bodies  realized 
what  they  were  saying?  An  easy  optimism  is  that 
of  youth.  It  is  apt  to  be  sincere,  but  it  is  not 
alwa^^s  far-seeing;  neither  does  it  count  the  cost 
of  that  which  it  proclaims.  The  war-cry  of  the 
Christian  students  of  Japan  is  not  literally  accu- 
rate. We  can  not  make  Jesus  King,  for  He  is 
already  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords.  All 
things  belong  to  Him ;  all  men  are  His  subjects ;  all 
love  is  His  due.  He  is  King  by  right!  It  is  our 
task,  however,  to  help  to  make  Him  King  in  fact; 
and  in  this  sense  there  is  meaning  and  true  purpose 
in  the  slogan,  "Make  Jesus  King !"  But  this  is  to 
be  emphasized  strongly,  that  as  a  mere  motto  and 
catch-phrase  such  a  saying  is  mockery.  It  is  pro- 
faning the  Lord's  name,  and  treating  Him  with 
lightness,  if  not  with  contempt,  unless  it  expresses 
the  mighty  effort  of  our  lives.  And  it  will  take 
a  mighty  effort,  nothing  less,  to  make  Jesus  King 
in  a  realm  of  so  many  evil  principalities  and 
powers,  in  a  world  of  so  much  spiritual  wickedness 
in  places  high  and  low.     This  will  never  be  done 


204  Every-Day  Evangelism 

unless  Christianity  gets  at  work  with  tremendous 
self-sacrifice  and  determination. 

When  Charles  XII  was  proclaimed  King  of 
Sweden,  a  powerful  coalition  of  nations  was  formed 
again  him,  including  Russia,  Denmark,  Saxony, 
and  Poland.  But  around  the  young  monarch 
gathered  a  little  band  of  brave  hearts  who  were 
supremely  devoted  to  his  fortunes,  and  who  were 
resolved  to  peril  all  in  the  effort  to  firmly  establish 
his  throne.  At  Narva,  eight  thousand  of  them, 
not  waiting  for  the  balance  of  the  small  Swedish 
army  to  come  up,  attacked  Peter  of  Russia,  who, 
with  eighty  thousand  soldiers,  was  besieging  the 
city.  It  was  a  baptism  of  blood  and  fire  through 
which  they  passed,  and  at  the  close  of  the  action 
many  brave  men  were  stretched  upon  the  field  to 
rise  no  more.  But  the  victory  was  won,  and  con- 
sternation filled  the  allied  enemies  against  whose 
deadliest  efforts  Charles  was  made  a  powerful 
ruler. 

Jesus  Christ  will  never  be  made  King  by 
waving  banners,  by  rallying  cries,  or  by  singing 
Coronation.  Battles  must  be  waged  against  the 
devil;  there  must  be  mighty  conflicts  with  sin,  and 
magnificent  and  costly  victories  must  be  won  over 
the  powers  which  enthrall  men  and  keep  them  from 


The  King's  Business  205 

serving  Christ.  The  warfare  of  Christianity  is 
one  of  love  and  not  of  slaughter;  no  less  on  that 
account  does  it  require  courage,  ability,  and  devo- 
tion. Many  will  yet  lay  down  their  lives  for  it, 
and  many  more  will  lay  down  a  life  on  this  altar. 
But  it  is  the  King's  cause,  and  will  triumph,  and 
in  all  the  future  they  that  winning  souls  were  wise 
shall  shine  as  the  firmament,  and  they  that  turned 
many  to  righteousness,  as  the  stars  forever. 


BOOKS  WHICH  MAY  PROVE 
HELPFUL 

While  the  following  is  not  an  exhaustive  list, 
it  is  believed  that  it  contains  the  leading  names 
in  this  field,  at  least  those  of  modern  times. 

Helpful  tracts  have  been  included,  especially 
those  prepared  under  the  direction  of  the  Inter- 
national Committee  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association. 

While  the  publications  in  this  list  represent 
various  houses,  Jennings  &  Graham,  or  Eaton  & 
Mains,  will  undertake  to  furnish  them  in  response 
to  orders  received.  There  is,  sometimes,  a  reduc- 
tion from  the  list  price  stated,  or  a  cheaper  edition. 
Postage  may  in  some  cases  slightly  increase  the  net 
cost. 

It  would  be  a  good  thing  for  each  Church  to 
possess  a  fairly  complete  library  of  personal  work 
literature.  I  have  found  it  helpful  to  take  before 
my  membership  department  quantities  of  several 
of  the  more  inexpensive  books,  which  I  have  sold 
206 


Helpful  Books  207 

to   the   members    at    cost    rates.      Others    I    have 
recommended  them  to  secure  for  themselves. 

Putting  one  of  the  best  of  these  books  into 
the  hands  of  a  Christian  man  or  woman  will  often 
result  in  an  addition  to  the  number  of  those  who 
are  everj-day  evangelists. 

Personal  Evangelism, 

The  Art  of  Soul-Winning.    J.  W.  Mahood $0  25 

Best  Texts  for  Soul  Winners.    M.  B.  Williams 25 

Catching  Men.    J.   P.   Brushingham,  D.  D.,  and 

others  75 

Christ  Among  Men,  Object  Lessons  in  Personal 

Work.    James  McConaughy 40-20 

Christ  as  a  Personal  Worker.    L.  W.  Messer 5 

Evangelistic  Work  in  Principle  and  Practice.   A.  T. 

Pierson,  D.  D 35 

Fishers  of  Men.    J.  A.  Richards 25 

Hints  on  How  to  Win  Souls.    C.  H.  Yatman 5 

How  to  Bring  Men  to  Christ.    R.  A.  Torrey,  D.  D..  7&-25 

How  to  Deal  with  Temptation.     Robt.  E.  Speer 25-10 

Individual  Work  for  Individuals.     H.  Clay  Trum- 
bull   75-35 

Jimmie  Moore  of  Bucktown.    M.  E.  Trotter 75 

Not  in  the  Curriculum.     Introduction,  Van  Dyke..        50 

Outlines  for  Christian  Workers.    Mehaffey 

Passion  for  Souls.    J.  H.  Jowett 50 

Pastoral  and   Personal   Evangelism.      Charles  L. 

Goodell,  D.  D 1  00 

Personal  Work.     S.  M.  Sayford 75 

Personal  Work,  How  Organized  and  Accomplished. 

Ober-Mott 10 


208  Every-Day  Evangelism 

Personal  "Work  and  the  Personal  Worker.     D.  O. 

Shelton $0  05 

Personal  Worker's  Helper.    J.  H.  Elliott,  D.  D 05 

Soul  Winner.     Charles  H.  Spurgeon 1  25 

Soul-Winning  Stories.    Louis  Albert  Banks,  D.  D....  1  00 
Stones  from  the  Brook,  Effective  Scriptures.    J.  E. 

Coulter 10 

Studies  for  Personal  Workers.      Howard  Agnew 

Johnston,  D.  D 66-45 

Success  in  Soul-Winning.    Lamb 25 

Tactology ,  a  work  regarded  by  some  as  being  highly 

fanciful.    W.  H.  Young,  Ph.  D 75 

Taking  Men  Alive.    Charles  Gallaudet  Trumbull....  60-40 

Winning  Men  One  by  One.    H.  Wellington  Wood....  50 

Worker's  Weapon.    J.  H.  Elliott,  D.  D 50 

Young  Man's  Question.    Robert  E.  Speer 80 

Yours,  a  Book  for  Young  Converts.     F.  B.  Hoag- 

land 05 

Evangelism. 

Consecrated  Work.    J.  F.  Cummings 75 

Conversion  of  Children.     E.  P.  Hammond,  D.  D....  25 

Early  Conversion.     E.  P.  Hammond,  D.  D 25 

Evangelism.     G.  Campbell  Morgan,  D.  D 50 

Evangelism,  Old  and  New.     A.  C.  Dixon,  D.  D 1  00 

Evangelistic  Note.     W.  J.  Dawson 1  25 

Great  Commission.     Wentworth  F.  Stewart 50 

Handbook  of  Revivals,  1874.     H.  C.  Fish,  D.  D 1  50 

Hints  on  Prayer,  Revival,  etc.    C.  H.  Yatman 25 

Letters  on  Evangelism.     Bishop  Edwin  H.  Hughes..  25 

Modern  Evangelism.    M.  W.  Haynes 35 

Narratives  of  Remarkable  Conversions  and  Revival 

Incidents,  Old.    Wm.  C.  Conant 

New  Evangelism.     Drummond 1  50 

Old  Evangelism  and  New  Evangelism.   T.  T.  Eaton..  75 


Helpful  Books  209 

Perennial  Revival.    William  B.  Eiley $1  25 

Present  Day  Evangelism.  J.  W.  Chapman,  D.  D....  60 
Primitive  Traits  in  Religious  Revivals.     Frederick 

Morgan  Davenport 1  50 

Revival  Addresses.    R.  A.  Torrey,  D.  D 1  00 

Revival  of  Religion  in  England  in  the  Eighteenth 

Century 1  25 

Romance  of  Christian  "Work  and  Experience.    W. 

Hay.    M.  H.  Aitken 2  00 

Sowing  and  Reaping.    D.  L.  Moody 30 

The  Evangelistic  Aw^akening.     Stewart 75 

The  New  Evangelism.     Cortland  Myers 35-20 

The  Revival.     A  Symposium  edited  by  J.  H.  Mc- 
Donald    75 

The  Soul-Winning  Church.    Broughton 50 

Methods, 

The  Church  and  Young  Men.    Frank  Graves  Cres- 

eey,  Ph.  D 1  25 

Effectiveness  in  Chi-istian  Work.  J.  G.  K.  McClure..  10 
God's   Methods   of    Training    Workers.      Howard 

Agnew  Johnston,  D.  D 75-50 

The  ''How"  Book.    Marshall  A.  Hudson „  50 

How  to  Deal  with  Doubts  and  Doubters.    H.  Clay 

Trumbull 65 

How  to  Promote  and  Conduct  a  Successful  Revival. 

R.  A.  Torrey ^  1  00 

How  to  Make  Jesus  Christ  Real.    John  R.  Mott 05 

Method  in  Soul-Winning.     Henry  C.  Mabie 75 

Power  for  Witnessing.    Albion  F.  Ballenger 100 

Revival  of  a  Dead  Church.  L.  G.  Broughton,  D.  D..  30 
Religious  Work  for  Men,  Principles  and  Methods, 

Part  IV 50 

Ways  to  Win.    D.  Hague 50 


210  Every-Day  Evangelism 


The   Way  of  Life, 

And  Peter.    J.  W.  Chapman,  D.  D $0  30 

Being  a  Christian.    Washington  Gladden 25 

Becoming  a  Christian.     Cleland  B.  McAfee 05 

Chapters  of  Blessing  from  the  Book  of  Life,  with 
Counsels   on    the  Way  of  Life.    Theodore   S. 

Henderson  15 

From  Death  Unto  Life.    J.  H.  Brookes 50 

Faith  Building.     W.  P.  Merrill 25 

How  to  be  Saved.    J.  H.  Brookes 50 

How  Shall  I  Go  to  God  ?    H.  Bonar 30 

Our  Eedemption.     F.  A.  Noble 1  00 

Personal  Salvation.    Edward  N.  Cantwell 75 

Personal  Salvation.    W.  F.  Tillet,  D.  D.,  LL.  D 1  25 

Plan  of  Salvation.    Charles  H.  Spurgeon 50 

Simple  Things  of  the  Christian  Life.    G.  Campbell 

Morgan,  D.  D 50 

Twelve  Sermons  for  Enquirers.     Charles  H.  Spur- 
geon    50 

The  Fight  for  Character.    Henry  Churchill  King....  10 

Up  from  Sin.     L.  G.  Broughton 30 

The  Way  of  Salvation.     Charles  G.  Finney 1  50 

Way  to  God.     D.  L.  Moody 30 

The  Way  and  the  Word.     D.  L.  Moody 30 

Words  for  the  Anxious.     M.  B.  Williams 05 

Biografhy, 

Autobiography.     Charles  G.  Finney 1  25 

Evangelistic  Work.      (Last    half   has   accounts   of 
Shaftesbury,    McAll,    McAuley,    and   others.) 

A.  T.  Pearson,  D.  D 1  25 

Life  of  Dwight  L.  Moody.     W.  R.  Moody 2  50 

Life  of  H«nry  Drummond.     George  Adam  Smith....  3  00 

Life  of  Sir  George  Williams.    J.  E.  H.  Williams 1  05 

14 


Helpful  Books  211 

Life  Story  of  Plenry  Clay  Trumbull.  P.  E.  Howard....  $1  00 
Lives  of  David  Brainerd  and  Henry  Martyn.     Page. 

Each  75 

Lessons  from  Life  of  D.  L.  Moody.    R.  A.  Torrey....  10 
Memorial  of  a  True  Life,  Story  of  Hugh  Beaver. 

R.  E   Speer 65 

Memorial  of  Horace  William  Rose.     H.  W.  Hicks....  65 

Memorial  of  Horace  T.  Pitkin.     R.  E.  Speer 1  00 

Personal  Life  of  Livingstone.    Blaikie 1  50 

Young  Men  Who  Overcame.    R.  E.  Speer 1  00 


Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Libraries 


(logical  seminary 

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